By trapping organic molecules between a gold surface and the ultrafine gold tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, researchers have shown that the molecules could be used to generate electricity.
Image By: Ben Utley and Courtesy of Arun Majumdar.
Cheap organic molecules could more efficiently convert waste heat into electricity.
Inside fossil-fuel and nuclear-power plants, as well as in cars and trucks, the lion's share of energy in fuel is wasted as heat rather than converted into electricity or mechanical power. But the search for a practical material that can convert at least some of this waste heat into electricity has been long and frustrating.
Researchers have long known that some inorganic semiconductors can do this. Indeed, deep-space probes have been powered by using such materials. But these inorganic materials are costly and difficult to make, and have low efficiencies. Now, new research shows that certain organic molecules produce voltage when exposed to heat. Ultimately, they could be much cheaper and thus more practical to implement.
"This is the first demonstration that you can use organic molecules in this kind of energy generation," says Rachel Segalman, professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, who with her colleagues reported new measurements last week in Science Express. "That's really significant because they are so inexpensive and abundant," she says.
Experts had previously theorized that some organic molecules could have the qualities necessary to generate electricity from heat. But until now, they lacked experimental proof, which the Berkeley researchers were able to provide by isolating and measuring the properties of just a few molecules of organic substances called benzene dithiols at a time.
These were "very difficult experiments," says Brian Sales, a senior research scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who was not involved with the work. The researchers trapped a few molecules between a sheet of gold and the ultrafine gold tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, which is so sharp it can end in a single atom. They heated up the gold surface and measured, via the microscope tip, the voltage that was created. "These are the type of difficult experiments that get nanotechnology past the 'picture' stage [and] into the realm of real science," Sales says.
The experiments showed that the organic molecules have the three qualities that make for good thermoelectric materials. The first is the ability to create a voltage. But this works best when the materials have two other qualities: they do not conduct heat, but they do conduct electrons. That way, applying heat, rather than just raising the temperature of the material, actually drives electrons, creating a current.
Nanomaterials could be used for lower-emission cars and solar panels.
Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
If in the future Intel or any other manufacturer of processors can implement this inside their processors maybe they can solve the heat problem of their processors and also make their processors more energy efficient. Also energy which is needed for the cooling of server centres can be saved. Since server centres mainly used for the internet have become one of the biggest energy consumers this would save a great part of the global energy consumption. I think this technology can become useful for lots of applications and become a great energy saver.
http://www.greeninventions.net
Aditional benefits for Lighting
Similarly, this kind of technology could create energy regeneration within electric lighting. While all the various lamp technologies could benefit from thermoelectric materials, it would likely be most useful with LEDs. LED have a great amount of heat at the diode that must be managed to keep the LED working efficiently and to get the full lifespan from the LED. The transformation of this heat into electrical energy would be a double advantage.
Charles Cameron, IES, Assoc IALD
charles@bentleymeeker.com
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
That would be "their" processors. Not "there".
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
Thank you, my Dutch is better than my English. But I am learning now!
Guest (fredmar)
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
Your English read fine to me- lots of native speakers make similar mistakes in website/blog comments
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
Wait a minute. Remember your physics for a moment. These devices do not create energy, they convert it from one form to another. That means there has to be an energy flow from high heat to low heat in order to generate electricity. The higher the heat differential within the limits of the device, the more electrical power is supplied by the device.
Currently, processors have a heat sink on top of them to get rid of heat. A thermo-electric device would have to be placed between the processor and the heat sink. And what are the properties of a good thermo-electric device? They do not conduct heat very well. Which means a processor loses the benefits of having a heat sink.
Unfortunately, a thermo-electric device is the last thing you want to put on your processor.
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there processors
well as far as i can tell from what i have read about this technology it does not require a heat differential, it merely uses minute discrepancies oh heat distribution. Also as for not wanting it on your processor, if they could get it working well, it would absorb the heat without need for a heat sink; there for saving space. But then again I'm probably wrong! lol
Re: Maybe in the future Intel can implement this inside there, i mean their, processors
dude thats genius
Thermoelectrics, Catalytic Converters and Powerplants
It would be great if the technologies in this article could be developed to the point where they could be used effectively in the following, although low-use scenario:
Place catalytic converters onto the smokestacks of coal or other fuel-burning powerplants. Use the thermoelectric technologies mentioned in this article to produce electricity from the heat produced by the catalytic conversion. Granted, the powerplant emissions would need to be converted or modified to create CO as input to the catalytic converter if you were to use a converter similar to the type in cars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter). And the sulfer output of the emissions, which would cause catalyst poisoning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter) but from the above mentioned wikipedia article it sounds as though methods of dealing with catalytic poisoning due to sulfer have been developed.
Perhaps, taking a change of tack, you could use the waste heat from a catalytic converter in an automobile, and the radiator from an automobile to run a Stirling Cycle engine, which could run a small generator to provide energy to electronic components inside of a vehicle, creating less drag on the engine, and providing better fuel economy.
Aaron L. Richards
Aaron@RichardsMedia[dot]Net
http://RichardsMedia.Net
Guest (5333isme)
Borealis and its various daughter organizations have come up with a thermoelectric technology that blows everything else away. It is based on electron tunneling. When two surfaces are placed nanometers apart, electrons can jump from one surface to the other creating an electric flow. Just as with conventional thermocouples, the process can be reversed by pushing current through the gap to remove heat; thus becoming a cooling device.
The firm claims a thermal efficiency for the device of better than 80%. Borealis and its various companies are a group of firms and technologies to watch.
New twist on Thermal Underpants - Powering cyborgs
This is great, I will be able to power my electronic gadgets from my body heat - negating the requirement for batteries to make these devises work.
The military would most likely be the first to sponsor such research as it will help the creation of exoskeltons for soldiers so that they will be able to march into battle carrying enormous quantities of supplies.
This would also be useful for rescuing people trapped in the snow - the amount of electricity generated by thermal underware could allow search teams to rate the urgency of finding survivors before they develop severe hypothermia.
Why isn't this type of electrical generation considered for a home power system? This could provide the necessary supplimental power supply for solar powered homes during the winter months of short daylight or gray cloudy days. It is necessary to heat our homes during winter and people who use solar panels need to operate a fueled generator or go back to the grid for power during winter months. A system of thermoelectrics combined with home heating could not only heat our home but also provide necessary supplimental electrical power. Perhaps it is the low efficiency of current materials available but this idea never seems to be a part of the solar powered community.
Air Conditioner Generates Electricity
LiveScience.com has an article entitled "New Device Turns Waste Heat into Electricity", where heat is turned into sound, then electricity. It'd be wonderful the technology here, this technology, or a related technology can be leveraged into a new air conditioner device. It would cool the home by taking heat energy out of the air, without increasing our electric bill. It would also generates electricity for our electronic devices. I'm ready to buy, and reduce my monthly electric bill.
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alternativee.org
9 Comments
Opportunity and Threat to Solar
If organic thermoelectrics do become commercially viable, their impact could significantly influence the photo voltaic solar energy market. Depending on the speed at which efficiencies are improved, thermoelectric technology could be combined with solar cells to capture both heat and light or thermoelectrics could drastically surpass solar efficiency making the capture of heat, rather than light, the preferred option. Certainly, these are not the only two outcomes and solar definitely has a maturity advantage, but it's nice to have a growing portfolio of renewable technologies to speculate about.
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bmn
75 Comments
Re: Opportunity and Threat to Solar
I don't understand the "threat" part of your subject. why is it a threat - seems like the best of all outcomes.
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alternativee.org
9 Comments
Re: Opportunity and Threat to Solar
The solar industry has struggled to improve the efficiency and reduce the price of photo voltaic technology. There are a number of new ideas being explored, but in one potential scenario, thermoelectrics could become drastically more efficient or cheaper causing it to displace solar (i.e. I might cover my roof with heat absorbing material because it's a fraction of the cost of photo voltaic material). Thus, thermoelectrics represents a potential threat or competitor to those trying to make a profit in the solar energy business.
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bmn
75 Comments
Re: Opportunity and Threat to Solar
so it is all about your biz, and not about doing the right thing? so sad.
Reply
micmackman
1 Comment
Re: Opportunity and Threat to Solar
Dude, c'mon, don't jump to conclusions. The man makes a good point- if thermoelectrics outperform solar, the solar economy (those who earn a living through and invest in solar, a lot of whom are probably out there) will be economically affected, and it's worth mentioning. He didn't make any judgments or express anti-thermoelectric bias, so give him a break. If TE does eventually outperform solar though, the folks who sell/install/implement solar could probably make an easy switch to TE or offer both, based on the application; both would be emerging renewable electrical sources of potentially very similar characteristics. This, in contrast to petroleum companies, who don't appear to think of themselves as 'energy' companies as much as they do 'petroleum' companies.
You'd think they would start investing in non-petroleum energy production early, if future oil production starts declining (more so than it already has). By comparison, as petroleum becomes more expensive and scarce, if Big Oil clings to their sinking ship and waits too late to diversify their spare capital, these startups who invest now in wind/solar and emerging, exciting technologies may someday eat Big Oil's lunch. Not anytime soon, of course.
Which raises the idea of a totally different energy future- small companies competing to provide clean, renewable energy to consumers on a widespread but independent, small-business scale. There might not be any monopolies, and there might be minimal lobbying, since the implementation of the newer technologies wouldn't be inherently polluting or pit ecology versus economy so diametrically. Environmental entrepreneurism, baby.
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