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Scientists have found a new Lead (Pb) free material

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Science & Technology
  • Published
    25th Feb, 2021

Context

Scientists have found a new Lead (Pb) free material, which can efficiently convert waste heat to power small home equipment and automobiles.

What is the new Lead (Pb) free material?

  • The new material is called Cadmium (Cd) doped Silver Antimony Telluride (AgSbTe2).
  • It can efficiently allow recovery of electricity from waste heat marking a paradigm shift in the thermoelectric puzzle.
  • It can convert waste heat to power our small home equipment and automobiles.

Why utilization of waste energy is important?

  • Energy conversion is not a very efficient process.
  • Only a small fraction of energy that is used is actually productive. The rest of it becomes waste, often getting released as heat.
  • This waste heat can be tapped, and further converted into electrical energy.

The need of new material

  • Most efficient thermoelectric materials developed by scientists so far use Lead (Pb) as a major constituent element, restricting their use for mass-market applications.
  • Thermoelectric energy conversion allows generation of electrical voltage when one end of a material is heated while keeping the other side cold.
  • Finding an efficient material to realize this scientific principle has been a daunting task for scientists.

Verifying, please be patient.

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