SivVulk
03-24-2012, 07:20 AM
PASADENA, Calif., March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've identified a new thermoelectric material that may lead to efficient conversion of heat into electricity and vice versa.
A thermoelectric material generates electricity when there is a temperature difference between one end of the material and the other.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have reported a promising new thermoelectric material can be made from copper and selenium, a solid that exhibits liquid-like behaviors due to the way its copper atoms flow through the selenium's crystal lattice.
"It's like a wet sponge," researcher Jeff Snyder said. "If you have a sponge with very fine pores in it, it looks and acts like a solid. But inside, the water molecules are diffusing just as fast as they would if they were a regular liquid.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/03/22/New-material-could-be-energy-source/UPI-15931332449195/?spt=mps&or=4
We really do need some new breakthroughs in alternative energy... coal, nuclear and petroleum really need to start going the way of the dodo sometime in the near future :)
A thermoelectric material generates electricity when there is a temperature difference between one end of the material and the other.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have reported a promising new thermoelectric material can be made from copper and selenium, a solid that exhibits liquid-like behaviors due to the way its copper atoms flow through the selenium's crystal lattice.
"It's like a wet sponge," researcher Jeff Snyder said. "If you have a sponge with very fine pores in it, it looks and acts like a solid. But inside, the water molecules are diffusing just as fast as they would if they were a regular liquid.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/03/22/New-material-could-be-energy-source/UPI-15931332449195/?spt=mps&or=4
We really do need some new breakthroughs in alternative energy... coal, nuclear and petroleum really need to start going the way of the dodo sometime in the near future :)