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OSU study finds new way to convert heat to energy
KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 2, 2019
An Ohio State University-led study to capture heat for use in generation of electricity has resulted in a discovery in thermoelectrics that may lead toward more efficient energy generation.
Published last week in Science Advances, the discovery may allow for generation from the heat in things like car exhaust, interplanetary space probes and industrial processes, a university press release detailed.
"Because of this discovery, we should be able to make more electrical energy out of heat than we do today," said mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and Ohio Eminent Scholar in Nanotechnology Joseph Heremans, the study's co-author. "It's something that, until now, nobody thought was possible."
The finding centers on tiny particles called paramagnons - bits that are not quite magnets, but that carry some magnetic flux. A flux of magnetism, known as "spins," creates a type of energy called magnon-drag thermoelectricity, which previously could not be used to collect energy at room temperature.
"What we found is a new way of designing thermoelectric semiconductors-materials that convert heat to electricity," Heremans said.
Magnets are a crucial part of collecting energy from heat: When one side of a magnet is heated, the other side-the cold side-gets more magnetic, producing spin, which pushes the electrons in the magnet and creates electricity, the press release provided.
Researchers found that paramagnons push the electrons only for a billionth of a millionth of a second-long enough to make paramagnets viable energy-harvesters.
Ohio State graduate student Yuanhua Zheng also served as co-author on this work.
Supported by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the U.S. Department of Energy, the research was conducted in partnership with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ohio State scientists were joined by scientists from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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