New Device Can Turn Heat Energy To Fuel
Scientists have developed a device that could turn the heat generated by electronics into a usable fuel source, an advance that may help save energy.
The device is a multi component, multi layered composite material called a van der Waals Schottky diode, said researchers at Washington State University (WSU) in the US.
It converts heat into electricity up to three times more efficiently than silicon - a semiconductor material widely used in the electronics industry, they said.
"The ability of our diode to convert heat into electricity is very large compared to other bulk materials currently used in electronics," said Yi Gu, physicist at WSU.
"In the future, one layer could be attached to something hot like a car exhaust or a computer motor and another to a surface at room temperatur...