Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2021) 230: 867-871
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00091-3

Regular Article

On the thermodynamics of the difference between energy transfer rate and heat engine efficiency

¹ Graduate School of China Academy of Engineering Physics, No. 10 Xibeiwang East Road, Haidian District, 100193, Beijing, China
² Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Baoshan District, 200444, Shanghai, China
³ Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
⁴ Center for Quantum Technology Research, School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081, Beijing, China
⁵ Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Rehovot, Israel
⁶ Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
⁷ Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

^h scully@tamu.edu

Received: 19 June 2020
Accepted: 5 January 2021
Published online: 13 April 2021

Abstract

We study the difference between the energy transfer rate and the engine efficiency with a microscopic model, widely used in the theoretical description of solar cells, as well as in light-harvesting systems. We show no violation of the second law of thermodynamics by correctly assessing the useful output work, even with the simple model treating the later work conversion as a simple “sink”.