Progress on the Anomalous Nernst Effect

[Gord_in_Toronto]

It looks like this has promise for thermoelectric generation. Whether it is scalable remains to be seen. However, there may be some niche applications, sooner.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-unconventional-transverse-thermoelectric.html

Demonstration of unconventional transverse thermoelectric generation

A NIMS research team devised a new thermoelectric generation mechanism with a hybrid structure composed of thermoelectric and magnetic materials. The team then actually fabricated this structure and observed the record-high thermopower appearing in the direction perpendicular to a temperature gradient (i.e., transverse thermoelectric generation). These results may offer insights into new mechanisms and structural designs applicable to the development of versatile energy harvesting technologies and highly sensitive heat flux sensors.

 

[a_unique_person]

Anything that gives me free lighting.

 

[attempt5001]

This is one of the many articles of this type that makes me wish I was sufficiently educated on the topic to know if it's really promising, or just hype. I will as usual try to pick out the more well-versed commenters to gain some insight.
(Fun story, I first came to this site because it was referenced in a feisty exchange in the comments following a phys.org article).

 

[The Great Zaganza]

This is pretty cool opens up a lot of future research.
However, we are talking very small amounts of energy here.

 

[marting]

However, the anomalous Nernst effect has been shown to generate only a very small thermopower—less than 10 μV/K at near room temperature—making its practical application difficult.

I hate it when they misuse units. V isn't power.

 

[casebro]

I hate it when they misuse units. V isn't power.

Pico volts/kilo?

 

[Lplus]

Pico volts/kilo?

Picovolts per degree Kelvin temperature difference?

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I hate it when they misuse units. V isn't power.

Further research is required to amp up the output . . . or something.

 

[marting]

μV/K isn't power. K is an unrelated unit. To get power you need current and voltage which is power measured in Watts or Joules/S.

 

[marting]

Further research is required to amp up the output . . . or something.

Good one!

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

I hate it when they misuse units. V isn't power.

But it's thermopower. It's not the authors of this article that are responsible for the misleading name of the effect. "Seebeck Coefficient" is pretty unwieldy as a name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seebeck_coefficient

 

[marting]

But it's thermopower. It's not the authors of this article that are responsible for the misleading name of the effect. "Seebeck Coefficient" is pretty unwieldy as a name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seebeck_coefficient

Good find. So the misnomer has been in use for some time and somehow stuck.