New thermoelectric material: 20% conversion at 650 °C

[DeltaV]

New Material Could Make Thermoelectric Power Practical

The material works best at high temperatures, about 650 °C, which is close to the temperature of exhaust gases for a car cruising down the highway at 65 miles per hour. At that temperature, it could convert about 20 percent of the energy in that exhaust into electricity.

Better. Not great, yet.

[ladajo]

Yes, and if you take that 20% recovery and add it to an electric boost you are loking at probably at least a 10% gain in efficiency in the aggregate. Now, how much does the 10% cost to achieve with the mod verses just paying for the 10% of gas?

[DeltaV]

The (paywalled) paper:
High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures

Hope they can push to higher conversion efficiency with this approach.

[paperburn1]

New Material Could Make Thermoelectric Power Practical

The material works best at high temperatures, about 650 °C, which is close to the temperature of exhaust gases for a car cruising down the highway at 65 miles per hour. At that temperature, it could convert about 20 percent of the energy in that exhaust into electricity.

Better. Not great, yet.

I wonder what it could do in a fireplace/woodstove?

[zDarby]

I wonder what it could do in a fireplace/woodstove?

Or, better yet, a rocketstove.