A new geothermal battery that converts heat directly into electricity

There are a number of renewable and virtually eternal source of energy: it is our star and the Earth itself. Our planet - it's actually a huge heat accumulator that and waiting for us to connect to it and start to get energy. It remains only to create a cheap and affordable converter and engineers from the Tokyo University of Technology in tandem with Sanoh Industrial It looks like it failed.

As it is well known the greater part of existing geothermal systems operate using only the liquid (water) that naturally flows into the installation or else forcibly pumped, heated and pumped back. Such systems operate at high temperatures (above 180 degrees Celsius) and the setting data are quite large.

But the research group of Japan stated that they had found a simpler and more direct way to convert heat into electricity. They have created the installation consists of a heat-sensitized cells (STC), which are quite capable of generating electricity at substantially below 100 degrees Celsius, and thus there is no necessity to use a carrier medium level such as steam or water.

STC - it is nothing more than a battery, which consists of a three-layer material on both sides of the clamped electrodes. In this kind of "sandwich" is made up of the following layers:

1. ETM - the electron transport layer.

2. A semiconductor layer of a rare earth germanium.

3. A solid electrolyte layer, providing transportation of copper ions.

Note. This design is intended for immediate immersion in hot ground.

The assembled unit is working on the following principle:

Natural heat triggers the excitation of electrons in the semiconductor. As a result, they begin to move into the layer ETM. Further, the electron flow passes through the electrode, then by the outer closed loop, and finally come to the other electrode. There occur redox transformations that result in the transfer of low-energy electrons back into the semiconductor, after which the cycle starts anew.

Scientists were not sure before the start of the test, this setting will work indefinitely or redox process will end. Tests have shown that the operation of such a battery turned out to end (the miracle did not happen). But experiments have shown it (the battery) can be recharged completely.

To do this, it was still placed in the heat and connected to an external power source. The result is a battery "recharged" and again was ready to go.

Leading specialist research Sachiko Matsushita said: "With such installations, heat, which was previously considered as a low-grade energy can be a great source of renewable energy. "

At the same time this technology is completely safe and has no dependence on weather conditions, such as solar panels and generators.

Of course, this technology is still far from full use and installation is at the prototype stage, but scientists are planning to release a working installation on the market in the coming years.

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