Electricity from waste heat: thanks to the new thermoelectric paint developed by three Korean research centers, it will one day be possible to “recapture” waste heat to transform it into electricity. And all this alone, perhaps, by painting your own house or car.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Electricity from waste heat: thanks to the new thermoelectric paint developed by three Korean research centers, it will one day be possible to “recapture” waste heat to transform it into electricity. And all this alone, perhaps, by painting your own house or car.
THEinnovative paint is the result of the joint work of researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, and could, if feasibility is verified on a large scale, increase efficiency and help to further reduce theuse of fossil sources for energy production.
On the other hand, waste heat is an energy source that is very often underestimated and really wasted. In fact, it is estimated that two thirds of all the energy produced is lost in the form of waste heat, but one is also true moderate difficulty in "recovering" this energy.
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The new thermoelectric paint is in fact particularly interesting first of all because it is suitable for any type of application and, according to what the researchers write, usable on any surface, allowing for the recovery of heat from many sources.
A paint is also intrinsically more versatile: in fact, common thermoelectric devices (all those that transform heat into electricity) are rigid and flat and, therefore, when applied, they are not able to capture all the heat that could capture the paint.
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The paint is done with bismuth tellide, known component of thermoelectric materials, and is obtained through a process studied ad hoc, then heated to high temperatures for 10 minutes to maximize its effectiveness. Tests show that the paint is more efficient than any other ink or thermoelectric material developed so far.
Researchers say the paint would be particularly useful for capturing heat from walls and roofs during the summer months, but it could also be used on cars and ships and, hopefully in the future, find applications in 3D printing.
So we may soon have roofs and self-producing electricity cars?
The work was published on Kind Communication.
Roberta de carolis
