Improved Thermoelectrics Could Migrate from Space to Earth
NASA's latest rover on Mars depends on a sandwich of semiconducting material that can turn heat into electricity. In the case of Curiosity , the steady radioactive decay of plutonium 238 warms such thermoelectric material and turns roughly 4 percent of that heat into a steady flow of electrons. A similar radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) on the moon's Sea of Tranquility is still working after decades, as are the RTGs in the two Voyager spacecraft launched 35 years ago; such enduring reliability is the main reason NASA employed the inefficient technology. Now researchers have discovered a way to at least double the efficiency of such power generators--suggesting that thermoelectrics might find a home in applications outside of aerospace and back here on Earth. [More]