May
6
A research team from the University of Michigan (UM) has found a way to nearly double the efficiency of a particular class of thermoelectric material. Thermoelectric materials can be used to turn waste heat into electricity or to provide refrigeration without any liquid coolants and the new class of them is made with organic semiconductors. [...]
Mar
12
Solving the Puzzle of Binding Two Unusual Materials
March 12, 2013 | Leave a Comment
A thin film of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) on top of gallium arsenide (GaAs) converts heat into electricity or electricity to cooling creating cooling devices for electronics or generating electricity from heat sources. For years, researchers have developed these thin films and while they knew it could be done, it was not clear how, because the [...]
Feb
20
A New Quantum Physics Idea to Harvest Heat
February 20, 2013 | Leave a Comment
Recovery and harvest of heat is the conservationist’s best route to reduce energy consumption. The amounts of energy that escape use via heat is a stunning number and the heat available from solar and geothermal are huge resources. When a new technology shows up, even if it’s at the first bright idea stage, we want [...]
Dec
27
Rising Heat Captured for Power
December 27, 2012 | 3 Comments
A couple weeks ago the Thiel Foundation announced three new grants awarded through its Breakout Labs, to promote innovation in science and technology. The most recent award takes the program into clean energy, with a bold new proposal to harness the power of atmospheric vortexes. An atmospheric vortex engine (AVE) uses a controlled vortex to [...]
Dec
6
A Better Way to Move the Heat
December 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment
A research Team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new method for significantly increasing the heat transfer rate across two different materials. Heat transfer is a critical aspect of many different technologies. As computer chips grow smaller and more complex, manufacturers are constantly in search of new and better means for removing excess heat [...]
Nov
29
A New Cheap and Abundant Thermoelectric Material Found
November 29, 2012 | 2 Comments
A team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material based on natural minerals known as tetrahedrites, the most widespread sulfosalts on Earth. So where are these tetrahedrites? They’re found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, common ordinary dirt. The researchers, led by Donald Morelli, a professor of chemical engineering and materials [...]
Oct
29
Experiment Shows How Heat Moves
October 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment
A research team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has developed a novel system showing heat move by examining and measuring nanoscale thermal conductance at the interface between two materials. The UIUC team’s system starts with a substrate base of quartz crystal, upon which the researchers place molecular chains that are 12 carbon [...]
Sep
20
Heat To Electricity Breakthrough May be Commercial Scale
September 20, 2012 | 4 Comments
Northwestern University scientists collaborating with scientists and mechanical engineers at Northwestern and Michigan State University have developed a thermoelectric material that is the best in the world at converting waste heat to electricity resulting in the world record ZT of 2.2. Using a very environmentally stable material, the common semiconductor called lead telluride; the material [...]
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