Thermoelectric Nanowires Promise Energy Harvesting From Car Exhaust
There’s a lot of waste heat generated from cars, and if some of that could be harvested to power remote wireless sensors, that’s a big deal.
Researchers at Sandia National Labs have developed a manufacturing process capable of controlling the crystal orientation, crystal size, and alloy uniformity of nanowires so that they could be used in a range of thermoelectric applications.
Because thermoelectric materials are capable of generating an electrical current as a result of a difference in temperature between one side of the material and the other, the Sandia team believes the new nanowires could make it possible for carmakers to harvest power from the heat wasted by exhaust systems or lead to more efficient devices for cooling computer chips.
Nanowires have been suggested for a range of applications, but in thermoelectric applications, the quality of the nanowires has heretofore been inadequate. The trick for any thermoelectric material is to combine high electrical conductivity and relatively low thermal conductivity—a property known as thermoelectric efficiency.
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