There are many materials that have been born thanks to all the advances that have occurred in technology over many decades. Some of them have a great resistance , much higher than some conventional or natural materials. However, there are others that help, for example, energy sources to better conduct electricity . On this occasion, a group of engineers has created a new material capable of converting heat into electricity.
This group is at Northwestern University and their creation could be the most efficient material created to date to harness heat and convert it into energy.
A way to recycle heat
This has been achieved thanks to purified tin selenide polycrystalline that has everything you need to generate electricity from heat.
It is not the first time that thermoelectric materials have been created that have the ability to convert heat into electricity, but this new material is the one that offers the best performance at the moment.
Many electronic devices generate heat that ends up being wasted, so this new material could take advantage of this heat to generate clean energy and thus not lose it. It is a way to recycle energy.
However, these thermoelectric materials must have certain properties to do their job well. While they must have a high capacity to conduct electricity on the one hand, they must also have a low capacity to transmit temperatures, since electrons can thus move easily while heat is left to one side.
An energy efficient alternative
These materials must be able to generate energy from temperature variations and be able to withstand high temperatures without problems.
The key element to create this new material is tin selenide, but it had a problem: it is a material that is easy to break , so it was first decided to do it in a polycrystalline form to increase its resistance.
The problem was that when doing the necessary tests , the material had a lot of thermal conductivity. Even so, they discovered that the problem was generated by a small layer of tin that was generated, so eliminating it ended the problems.
This material could be key in the future for the production of thermoelectric generators. But not only that, but other devices that generate heat and be able to take advantage of this to recycle said heat and not waste it.
It may not be a form of energy as well known as others, but it could be a cheap alternative that offers optimal performance in terms of power generation.