Skip to Content

Electricity from Heat

Toward cheaper thermoelectrics.

Materials that convert heat directly into electricity have been useful for some niche applications, like powering deep-space probes. But they’ve been too expensive and inefficient for their potential killer app: harvesting immense amounts of energy from the waste heat generated by power plants and cars. Now researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that a cheap organic material can make electricity from heat, potentially opening the way to affordable “thermo­electrics.”

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.

The researchers trapped a few organic molecules between a sheet of gold and the ultrasharp gold tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. They heated the gold surface and used the microscope tip to measure the voltage created by the junction of molecule and metal. A large-scale heat-­conversion system will require a process for arranging multiple layers of such junctions between two sheets of metal, one for applying heat and the other for harvesting electricity.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.

“This is a profound moment in the history of technology,” says Mustafa Suleyman.

What to know about this autumn’s covid vaccines

New variants will pose a challenge, but early signs suggest the shots will still boost antibody responses.

Human-plus-AI solutions mitigate security threats

With the right human oversight, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can help keep business and customer data secure

Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation

From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.