To convert heat into electricity, easily accessible materials from harmless raw materials open up new perspectives in the development of safe and inexpensivethermoelectric materials. A study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie states that a synthetic copper mineral is formed through simple changes in its composition.
The author of the study is a materials scientist at the CRISMAT laboratory in Caen, France. The powders are formed by ball milling to form a precrystallized phase, which is densified by 600 degrees Celsius. He says that the process can be scaled up.
The heat is converted to electricity. In industrial processes, waste heat can be used to generate electric power. The cooling of electronic parts can be done in a converse approach. Inexpensive and safe for health are some of the things that have to be considered when using materials in this type of application.
The best conversion efficiency can be found in using expensive and toxic elements such as lead and tellurium. derivatives of natural copper-based sulfide minerals have been found to be safer. Some of the mineral derivatives have thermoelectric properties.
The team has been able to produce a series of thermoelectric materials that show two crystal structures. We were surprised by the outcome. The structure of this class of materials is usually not affected by slight composition changes.
The team found that replacing a small fraction of the manganese with copper produced complex microstructures with defects, which affected the material's transport properties.
The novel material is stable up to 400 degrees Celsius, which is within the range of most industries. He believes that cheaper novel and nontoxic thermoelectric materials could be used to replace problematic materials.
V. Pavan Kumar is the author of Engineering Transport Properties in Interconnected EnargiteStannite type Cu 2+ x Mn 1 x GeS 4Nanocomposites. It's called 10.1002/anie.
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