Researchers at Northwestern University have placed nanocrystals of rock salt into lead telluride, creating a material that can harness electricity from heat-generating items such as vehicle exhaust systems, industrial processes and equipment and sun light more efficiently than scientists have seen in the past. The team dispersed nanocrystals of rock salt into the material lead telluride. Past attempts at this kind of nanoscale inclusion in bulk material have improved the energy conversion efficiency of lead telluride, but the nano inclusions also increased the scattering of electrons, which reduced overall conductivity. In this study, the Northwestern team offers the first example of using nanostructures in lead telluride to reduce electron scattering and increase the energy conversion efficiency of the material. “We can put this material inside of an inexpensive device with a few electrical wires and attach it to something like a light bulb, the device can make the light bulb more efficient by taking the heat it generates and converting part of the heat, 10 to 15 percent, into a more useful energy like electricity,” said Vinayak Dravid, professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dravid continued, “The energy crisis and the environment are two major reasons to be excited about this discovery, but this could just be the beginning, these types of structures may have other implications in the scientific community that we haven’t thought of yet, in areas such as mechanical behavior and improving strength or toughness. Hopefully others will pick up this system and use it."
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