Silicon nanowire prototype being prepared for spot measurements successful a cryostat. Credit: Lin Yang, Berkeley Lab
With a $2-million assistance from the California Energy Commission (CEC), Berkeley Lab has developed a cost-effective thermoelectric waste-heat betterment strategy to trim electricity-related c emissions. Industries specified arsenic the glass, cement, power, and alloy sectors expel a immense magnitude of high-temperature discarded heat. Converting this discarded vigor outgo efficaciously to energy tin supply a zero-carbon root of energy.
The strategy is based connected silicon nanowires developed astatine Berkeley Lab respective years ago. "Using an abundant and inexpensive worldly similar silicon to make thermoelectric generators volition summation marketplace penetration portion helping industries minimize vigor losses," said Berkeley Lab idiosyncratic Vi Rapp.
The backing comes from CEC's Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, which funds clean energy innovation to trim pollution, foster economical development, and conscionable the state's clime goals. Worldwide, astir 45 quads of vigor is rejected arsenic discarded vigor astatine precocious temperatures (greater than 300 degrees Celsius) each year. For comparison, the United States uses astir 100 quads of superior vigor each year.
More than 10 years ago, Berkeley Lab probe was focused connected low-temperature conversion of discarded vigor to electricity—a large exertion advancement astatine the time. Because converting discarded vigor astatine precocious temperatures is cost-effective and competes with different zero-carbon and discarded vigor conversion technologies, high-temperature thermoelectric conversion has been the adjacent sought-after exertion advance.
The CEC funded a Berkeley Lab and Stanford squad to find a promising solution, and their findings were precocious published successful the diary Nature Communications. The squad developed a exertion that uses wafer-scale arrays of porous silicon nanowires with ultra-thin silicon crystallite that allows for an 18 times greater "figure of merit" (an look representing show oregon efficiency) than different high-temperature oregon bulk silicon thermoelectric technologies.
"High temperatures degrade materials," said Ravi Prasher, the task pb and a idiosyncratic successful Berkeley Lab's Energy Technologies Area. "So we looked astatine silicon, which is abundant and stable, arsenic good arsenic inexpensive and reliable. Since bulk silicon does not person bully thermoelectric properties, we usage silicon to make nanowires—then the physics changes."
Prasher said the adjacent steps volition beryllium moving to standard up the system, producing nanowires to trial successful existent devices.
More information: Lin Yang et al, High thermoelectric fig of merit of porous Si nanowires from 300 to 700 K, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24208-3
Citation: Silicon nanowire offers businesslike high-temperature thermoelectric strategy (2021, August 16) retrieved 16 August 2021 from https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08-silicon-nanowire-efficient-high-temperature-thermoelectric.html
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