A team of researchers led by Dr. Joseph Heremans at Ohio State University has developed a new thermoelectric (TE) material with twice the efficiency of TE materials currently on the market. The most efficient commercial material in thermoelectric power generators is sodium-doped lead telluride (Na-PbTe), which has a thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) of 0.71. The new material, thallium-doped lead telluride (Tl-PbTe), has a zT of 1.5. The new material is most effective between 450° and 950°F—a typical temperature range for power systems such as automobile engines.More HERE.
