Alloy Named "Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10" Converts Heat Directly Into Electric Energy

The heat generated by electronic devices, petrol or diesel engines, factories and other similar sources is potentially a huge source of energy. Engineers around the world are working on capturing it and employing it to do something more meaningful by turning it into some other form of energy. University of Minnesota researchers have been successful in manufacturing a new type of alloy that eliminates several steps in the process of conversion of heat into electricity and does it directly.

The multiferroic alloy developed has been named Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10. It's been created by combining several elements at the atomic level. The multiferroic materials have unique electric, magnetic and elastic properties. In case of Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10, the non-magnetic material turns into strongly magnetic solid as its temperature goes up. Under the test conditions, researchers found out that once the alloy turns magnetic, it leads to introduction of electricity in an attached coil. Some of the energy does get lost (called hysteresis loss) and the researchers claim that they've been successful in minimizing the loss.

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Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 Converts Heat Directly Into Electricity

The discovery holds lot of potential in modern electronics as it provides an entirely new way of energy conversion which was never imagined before. Prof. Richard James of aerospace and mechanics engineering department who leads the research team says that "It's also the ultimate 'green' way to create electricity because it uses waste heat to create electricity with no carbon dioxide."

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