(July 7, 2012) Researchers who are studying a new magnetic effect that converts heat to
electricity have discovered how to amplify it a thousand times over - a first
step in making the technology more practical.
In the
so-called spin Seebeck effect, the spin of electrons creates a current in
magnetic materials, which is detected as a voltage in an adjacent metal. Ohio
State University researchers have figured out how to create a similar effect in
a non-magnetic semiconductor while producing more electrical power.
They've named the amplified effect the "giant
spin-Seebeck" effect, and the university will license patent-pending
variations of the technology.
The resulting voltages are admittedly tiny, but in this
week's issue of the journal Nature, the researchers report boosting the amount
of voltage produced per degree of temperature change inside the semiconductor
from a few microvolts to a few millivolts - a 1,000-fold increase in voltage,
producing a 1-million-fold increase in power.
Image by Scott Dennison, courtesy of Joseph Heremans and
Roberto Myers,
Ohio State University.
Joseph Heremans, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Nanotechnology,
said that his team's ultimate goal is a low-cost and efficient solid-state
engine that coverts heat to electricity. These engines would have no moving
parts, would not wear out, and would be infinitely reliable, he added.
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