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Thermoelectric materials can convert heat into electricity and vice versa. They are being used to harvest wasted heat energy from vehicles and create more efficient cooling devices. NASA uses them to power space probes. MIT is researching new, more efficient materials.
The thermoelectric process is the direct conversion of heat into electricity and vice versa in heating or cooling an object. Thermoelectric materials can be used to measure changes in temperature, change the effective temperature of an object, and generate an electric charge, which can be used to generate energy. In 2011, thermoelectric materials were too inefficient to be useful, but automotive engineers are attempting to use them to harvest a vehicle’s wasted heat energy and turn it into usable electricity. Researchers are looking to increase the efficiency of thermoelectric materials to make them cheaper so they can be used to create lower-cost, more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners and other devices that require cooling.
Thermoelectric processes occur due to the Peltier effect, which is the cooling and heating of opposing junctions in electrical circuits containing dissimilar semiconductors. Thermoelectric materials can be used to create cooling devices or to provide refrigeration. One of the common thermoelectric materials used today is bismuth telluride, an expensive compound that can cost up to $1,000 US Dollars (USD)/lb ($2,000 USD/kg). When properly prepared, this thermoelectric material produces reliable temperature changes anywhere between 14 to 266 degrees F (-10 to 130 degrees C). Thermoelectric systems operate reliably and accurately without the noise of traditional heating, cooling and refrigeration systems and without environmentally harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
For several years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has harnessed the power of thermoelectric materials to power space probes deep in space, so far from the sun that solar panels are useless. The process involves embedding nuclear material in a radioisotope thermal generator, where radiological decay produces thermal energy which is then converted into electricity to power the spacecraft. This is the same process that automotive engineers are trying to harness from the exhaust heat of car engines, heat that can be converted into electricity to power the car.
Research and development in thermoelectric materials is conducted by the Energy Frontier Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, researchers and scientists made some pretty significant discoveries, such as the coupling of thermal disorder and electronic structures at a finite temperature. The current challenges in this field are to identify or synthesize new, as yet undiscovered materials with more efficient thermoelectric capabilities. Advances in this field may enable the development of materials that generate electricity from waste heat, providing a sustainable global energy solution.
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