L R AS Published on Saturday 14 April 2018 - n° 229 - Categories:R&D
Producing electricity from heat
Scientists at the University of California at Riverside have developed thermoelectric devices that can convert low-level waste heat into electricity. These devices could be used to increase
production of a solar PV system, exploiting heat as well as sunlight, or inside an automobile engine.
The device was created from a two-layer Permalloy sandwich (NDLR is a range of alloys with magnetic properties) based on nickel-iron and p-type silicon. When heat was applied to the Permalloy, an electrical voltage was produced due to a phenomenon known as the spin-Seebeck effect (NDLR spin is one of the internal properties of particles such as mass, ... discovered by Seebeck), where the temperature generates a spin current of the ferromagnetic substance, and produces a voltage in the silicon.
A voltage of 100.3 microvolts was obtained. This is one of the highest obtained by a device of this type.
PV Magazine of 10 April
