This Thin-Film Turns Heat Waste From Electronics Into Electricity

printed circuit board

LOS ANGELES -

The electronic device you are reading this on is currently producing a modest to significant amount of waste heat. In fact, nearly 70% of the energy produced annually in the US is ultimately wasted as heat, much of it less than 100 degrees Celsius. The main culprits are computers and other electronic devices, vehicles, as well as industrial machinery. Heat waste is also a big problem for supercomputers, because as more circuitry is condensed into smaller and smaller areas, the hotter those microcircuits get.

It’s also been estimated that a single next-generation exascale supercomputer could feasibly use up to 10% of the energy output of just one coal-fired power station, and that nearly all of that energy would ultimately be wasted as heat.

What if it were possible to convert that heat energy into a useable energy source?

#google#

It’s not a new idea, of course. In fact the possibility of thermoelectric energy generation, where a temperature gradient is converted to electricity, was recognised as early as 1821, around the same time that Michael Faraday developed the electric motor.

Unfortunately, when the heat source is ‘low grade’, aka less than 100 degrees Celsius, a number of limitations arise. For it to work well, you need materials that have quite high electrical conductivity, but low thermal conductivity. It’s not an easy combination to come by.

Taking a different approach, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed thin-film that uses pyroelectric harvesting to capture heat-waste and convert it into electricity. The findings were published today in Nature Materials.

Related News

solar power panel

Intersolar Europe restart 2021: solar power is becoming increasingly popular in Poland

WARSAW - Photovoltaics (PV) is booming in Poland. According to SolarPower Europe, 2.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar power was installed in the country in 2020 - nearly three times as much as the 823 megawatts (MW) installed in 2019. This places Poland fourth across Europe, behind Germany (4.8 GW added in 2020), the Netherlands (2.8 GW) and Spain (2.6 GW). So all eyes in the industry are on the up-and-coming Polish market. The solar industry will come together at Intersolar Europe Restart 2021, taking place from October 6 to 8 at Messe München. As part of The smarter E Europe…

READ MORE
solar panels

Climate change, not renewables, threaten grid

READ MORE

tesla truck

Electric truck fleets will need a lot of power, but utilities aren't planning for it

READ MORE

solar power panel

Here's why the U.S. electric grid isn't running on 100% renewable energy yet

READ MORE

US Postal Service Trucks

Opinion | Why Electric Mail Trucks Are the Way of the Future

READ MORE