Whether it is electronic equipment or automotive, industrial machinery, waste heat generated during use has always been a problem, which may cause damage to parts or reduce efficiency. UC Berkeley engineers have now developed a nanofilm that can be used with various waste heat sources. Combine, convert excess waste heat into usable energy, reduce energy waste.
When you use a mobile phone or computer to browse online news, these electronic products are generating a lot of waste heat. Before there was data, it was estimated that an E-class supercomputer could consume 10% of a coal-fired power plant, and most of them Energy will eventually be wasted.
Then we try to convert thermal energy into usable energy. This is not a new idea, Forbes reported. In fact, during Faraday's invention of an electromagnetic rotating machine (the prototype of today's electric motor), scientists learned that temperature gradients could be used (temperature Gradient) converts thermal energy to electrical energy. Equipment such as JikoPower, which generates electricity using the temperature difference between the two sides of the material, is very suitable.
Unfortunately, most waste heat temperatures are below 100°C. There are some restrictions on the use of materials that require high conductivity but low thermal conductivity. This is not an easy combination.
The team led by Lane Martin, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, now uses different methods to develop nanomaterial films that collect waste heat from the thermoelectric conversion process and convert it into electricity. The study was published in Nature - Materials (Nature Materials) journal.
The team synthesized thin films with a thickness of only 50 to 100 nanometers and measured the amount of current and temperature that they converted from the waste heat. It was found that the film can achieve 1.06 J/cm3 energy density (energy density), 526 W/cm3 power density. And with 19% Carnot efficiency, all performances refresh the thermoelectric energy conversion record.
With this membrane, the conversion of waste heat energy will become more comfortable, and the team will next prepare to optimize the thin film to a material suitable for a specific waste heat temperature.
