Gizmodo
The latest edition of Nature magazine details a new method scientists have derived for converting heat energy into electricity, using silicon to instigate the conversion. Researchers have more investigations to carry out, but if preliminary findings are indicative of what is to come, appliances that charge using your own body heat may be on the horizon.
Using "rough" silicon wires, produced by a process known as "electroless etching," where silicon nano-wires are synthesized in an aqueous solution, over a thin, semiconductor crystallized base, the scientists have been able to exploit the process of galvanic displacement of silicon. This displacement technique, which uses silver ions, causes the thermoelectric efficiency to be increased on the rough surfaces of the nano-wires.
The breakthrough comes from the boffins at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, who believe they have found a way to increase the conversion efficiency by a factor of 100. Though they are unable to pin the exact physics of why this works, what they can be certain of is that it definitely does work.
The potential uses for such a technology are mind blowing; from power-jackets that recharge gadgets kept in their pockets to vehicles that utilizes your farts for headlight juice, and pretty much everything else in between. It will be a long while before anything like this makes it to the consumer market, but the development is an exciting one. Expect my son to blog about future developments concerning these nano-wires in 2016. [Tom's Hardware]
Comments
That's a very very creepy picture to demonstrate this....
Awesome! Just think: Inefficient electronics give off heat right? (just feel around near your computer) so these things could "mop up" that excess energy and make it useful! and think! the Sahara Desert, instead of being a barren wasteland, would be a barren wasteland positively brimming with energy!
@ALFONZO That's exactly what I was thinking. Although it sounds too good to be true. There have to be some limitations to it.
If this could provide us to a alternative way to get energy the whole world should jump on it, and start researching it to the max!!
in the middle of the highway..."
Shoot! The cars out of gas! Hang on one second...
Okay! Tanks full on our way!"
Remember the laws of thermodynamics apply. This means, among other things, that the total electrical energy out will be less than the input energy, and the efficiency is governed by the differential temperatures. While this new process might be more efficient than what exists, it cannot beat the laws of thermodynamics, for nothing can.
@katorok: Oil companies'll jump all over this shit...and suppress it.
It's exciting to think that maybe one day... every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take... well be charging you.
=P
@radikaled:I thought microsoft already called dibs on that line...
@radikaled: funny
@radikaled: That was good!
It would be perfect for cell phones and other personal devices that's for sure.
Heat in the air is just energy, and the ability to efficiently convert that heat to electricity is a potential panacea. The more we warm the planet with our CO2, the more energy we produce without making CO2. It truly is brilliant. Here's hoping they are succesfull beyond their wildest dreams.
Also, in the future our vision will be just like that of a predator.
Keep in mind that for thermoelectric conversion, you still need a cold sink, somewhere to dump all of that heat you aren't able to convert. Slightly work, and it does mean that simply warming everything up won't actually increase the power available. We still need those ice caps so that we can melt them, intentionally, to provide ourselves with power.
Wait a sec, if this tech really converts heat energy directly into electrical energy, if it can be used on a massive scale, it has the possibility to alter the environment and cool down areas.... Or am I over-thinking this?
@icelight: Ummm. Don't we get enough heat from.. well... you know.. THE SUN?!
@mlmmt3: No. You're right. Couple this with solar panels (unconverted power from solar cells come off as heat), and you get yourself a decent generator.
@mlmmt3: I don´t think that´s correct. If you imagine a room full of highly efficient solar cells or those nanowires and one lightbulb as the only light- / heatsource in it, you would not change the quantity of emmitted light nor the radiant energy, or am I mistaken?
Hmm, this would be excellent when used in conjunction with solar cells.
Fools! They're just silicon based aliens feeding off of you. Put on your foil hat! Get the shotgun, we'll stop these electricity pooping aliens yet!
I am glad that they have found a new use for people, as extensions to power appliances.
Who needs solar cells? Closed cycle dry-geothermal. There's enough heat under yellowstone to power the USA several times over. Now if only they could come up with a decent battery.
Wasn't using human bodies as sources of electricity the premise of "The Matrix"? Boy, howdy, don't life imitate art. How soon until people sell their body heat so others may have electricity? ("As long as you're down here to sell a pint of your blood, how about giving up a few milliwatts for an extra buck?")
@Barcard: Yeah, laugh it up Coppertop.
From what I understand it it makes use of the difference between a "hot" and a "cold" surface to make its mojo happen.
The tech. has been in place for some time to do this and many industrial plants use them on their smoke stacks to recapture electricity.
But I don't believe that you can just use it somewhere it is really hot (like the desert) to make electricity. You need something with a drastic temp drop nearby.
What this discovery has added to the mix is the efficiency to make it worth it to use sources who's temperature diffrence is more slight.
dammit! I have been trying to think of a way to change heat into electricity for years! Seriously! But with no college degree and no idea what the hell the second paragraph in the article is trying to tell me, it's prolly best that I just wait for these brainiaks to figure it out...
yeah, I said brainiaks
@Monty: woah, woah, woah. We're not heating anything with CO2. Producing it, yes, heating with it, no. The sun heats the planet and CO2 slows the cooling. Trapping carbon will help cool the planet. Producing electricity with heat will not.
But this idea is gonna be friggin sweet.
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