Heat Generated From Batteries Could Be Converted Into Electricity

While batteries have more or less become one of the mainstay products that we use in our everyday devices, this does not mean that batteries have achieved the level of eco-friendliness that everyone wants or would love to have. Batteries do generate electricity, but a fair amount of the heat that is generated by the process of electricity creation goes unused, and hence, wasted. Perhaps this might change in the future, as such a new breakthrough could actually alter the face of electricity that we know of today, thanks to a bunch of researchers over at Stanford University who managed to figured out just how to convert the wasted heat into electricity.

It took the principle of thermogalvanic effect to come across this unique discovery. Basically, temperature would affect a rechargeable battery’s voltage, and to ensure that such a technique “works”, waste heat is used to warm an uncharged battery. The battery would the remain charged when it is still warm, and upon touching a full charge, the battery will be cooled down, which in turn discharges it while increasing its voltage. When fully cooled down, the battery will then sport more power compared to the energy that was required to juice it up, now how about that for progress?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Green
Tags: Battery, Science