AMN8: Conductive polymers may serve as power source

22 March, 2017

Rachel Segalman, speaker at AMN8 Queenstown, talks about the thermoelectric potential of polymers. Due to their inherent thermal conductivity, polymers might generate power through external heat gradients. The process also works in reverse so that they may be used as heaters or refrigerators, too.

By embracing the thermoelectric potential of polymers, Rachel Segalman is pursuing a new frontier in the use of power to heat or cool. A speaker at the AMN8 conference in Queenstown, she talks to Charles Anderson

Across the world, a huge amount of energy is expended heating and cooling spaces which people do not use. What if there were a way to shrink that space?

What if, instead of using electricity to cool or heat an entire space, you could create electricity from someone’s own body temperature? What if you could use this process to heat and cool your clothing? Or your chair? Or a blanket?

“We have electric heating devices such as electric blankets but if you could use thermoelectrics that are capable of both heating and cooling, a huge range of applications open up,” Professor Rachel Segalman says from California...

Read the full article at The Spinoff

Picture source: Segelman Group Website