Thermoelectrics
Improving materials that convert heat to electricity and vice-versa
May 6, 2013 7:50 am | News | CommentsThermoelectric materials can be used to turn waste heat into electricity or to provide refrigeration without any liquid coolants, and a research team from the University of Michigan has found a way to nearly double the efficiency of a particular class of them that's made with organic semiconductors.
Thermoelectric material is world's best at converting heat waste to electricity
September 19, 2012 10:21 am | News | CommentsNorthwestern University scientists have developed a thermoelectric material that is, according to the university, the best in the world at converting waste heat to electricity, which is good news once one realizes nearly two-thirds of energy input is lost as waste heat. The material could signify a paradigm shift.
New material mimics graphene
April 24, 2012 3:39 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsGraphene, a single-atom-thick layer of carbon, has spawned much research into its unique electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. Now, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found another compound that shares many of graphene's unusual characteristics—and in some cases has interesting complementary properties to this much-heralded material.
Nanocrystal-coated fibers might reduce wasted energy
April 18, 2012 5:17 am | by Emil Venere | News | CommentsEngineers at Purdue University have coated glass fibers with a new thermoelectric material formed by dipping glass fibers in a solution containing nanocrystals of lead telluride and then exposing them to heat in a process called annealing to fuse the crystals together. The resulting material is far less brittle and more effiicient to produce than conventional thermoelectrics.
Liquid-like materials may pave way for new thermoelectric devices
March 22, 2012 4:06 am | News | CommentsIn the continual quest for better thermoelectric materials—which convert heat into electricity and vice versa—researchers have identified a liquid-like compound whose properties give it the potential to be even more efficient than traditional thermoelectrics.
Liquid-like copper ion material aids conversion of heat to electricity
March 13, 2012 4:32 am | News | CommentsScientists from the Chinese Academy of Science's Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, in collaboration with scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Michigan, and the California Institute of Technology, have identified a new class of high-performance thermoelectric materials. In their study, liquid-like copper ions carry electric current around a solid selenium crystal lattice.
‘Power Felt’ creates electricity from heat—or cold
February 22, 2012 6:17 am | by Katie Neal | News | CommentsMade from carbon nanotubes locked up in flexible plastic fibers and made to feel like fabric, an invention called Power Felt from Wake Forest University uses temperature differences—room temperature versus body temperature, for example—to create a charge.
Turning heat into power
February 3, 2012 2:36 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has developed a way of making a high-temperature version of a kind of materials called photonic crystals, using metals such as tungsten or tantalum. The new materials—which can operate at temperatures up to 1,200 C—could find a wide variety of applications powering portable electronic devices, spacecraft to probe deep space, and new infrared light emitters that could be used as chemical detectors and sensors.
Thermal breakthrough could cool computer chips and lasers
December 14, 2011 6:19 pm | by David Salisbury | News | CommentsThe surprising discovery of a new way to tune and enhance thermal conductivity—a basic property generally considered to be fixed for a given material—could give engineers a new tool for managing thermal effects in smart phones and computers, lasers, and a number of other powered devices.
Elemental 'cookbook' guides efficient thermoelectric combinations
December 14, 2011 5:40 pm | News | CommentsA repository developed by Duke University engineers that they call a "materials genome" could allow scientists to stop using trail-and-error methods for combining electricity-producing materials. The thermoelectrics database project covers thousands of compounds, and provides detailed "recipes" for creating most efficient combinations for a particular purpose.
A new approach to solar power
October 21, 2011 3:42 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsSystems to harness the sun's energy typically generate either electricity or heat in the form of steam or hot water. But a new analysis by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that there could be significant advantages to systems that produce both electricity and heat simultaneously.
Graphene shows unusual thermoelectric response to light
October 7, 2011 12:30 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have found that shining light on a sheet of graphene, treated so that it had two regions with different electrical properties, creates a temperature difference that, in turn, generates a current. Previously, this effect had been thought to be photovoltaic in nature.
Wanted: 2011's Top Technologies
August 15, 2011 6:12 am | Blogs | CommentsThe editors of R&D Magazine have opened the nominations for the 2012 R&D 100 Awards competition, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the awards. If your organization introduced a new product this year, or is planning to, you can begin the entry process now.
Explaining the dynamics behind the best thermoelectric materials
June 7, 2011 4:27 am | by Bill Cabage | News | CommentsNeutron analysis of the atomic dynamics behind thermal conductivity is helping scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory gain a deeper understanding of how thermoelectric materials work. The analysis could spur the development of a broader range of products with the capability to transform heat to electricity.
Researchers develop high-performance bulk thermoelectrics
May 23, 2011 4:29 am | News | CommentsRecently, scientists have concocted a recipe for a thermoelectric material that might be able to operate off nothing more than the heat of a car's exhaust. In a paper, a team reported on a compound that shows high efficiency at less extreme temperatures.
Researchers report on solar-thermal flat panels that generate electric power
May 2, 2011 7:31 am | News | CommentsHigh-performance nanotech materials arrayed on a flat panel platform demonstrated seven to eight times higher efficiency than previous solar thermoelectric generators, opening up solar-thermal electric power conversion to a broad range of residential and industrial uses, a team of researchers from Boston College and MIT report.
Thermoelectric materials: recycling energy
March 31, 2011 5:50 am | News | CommentsThermoelectric materials are a hot new technology that is now being studied intensively by researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Frontier Research Centers. An Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher is using neutron scattering and computer simulation to investigate the microscopic structure and dynamics of thermoelectric materials so that researchers can make them more efficient for new, energy-saving applications.
A little rare earth hikes thermoelectric conversion efficiency 25%
February 16, 2011 7:39 am | News | CommentsHow important are rare earth elements? A research team based at Ames Lab recently achieved a 25% improvement in the ability of a certain type of thermoelectric, TAGS (tellurium, antimony, germanium and silver), to convert heat into electrical energy by adding a small amount of rare earth cerium or ytterbium.
