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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Graphene to improve cars' energy efficiency

Scientists from The University of Manchester working with European Thermodynamics Ltd have increased the potential for low cost thermoelectric materials to be used more widely in the automotive industry. Adding a small amount of graphene to the base oxide thermoelectric materials, operating temperatures of which can be around 700 degrees Celsius, can reduce the thermal operating window to room temperature which offers a huge range of potential for applications.
The new material  will convert 3-5% of the heat into electricity. Taking into account  that the average vehicle loses roughly 70% of the energy supplied to it by its fuel to waste heat, recovering even a small percentage of this with thermoelectric technology would be a great achievement.  
Graphene was first isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004 and currently the University is the home of graphene research with over 40 industrial partners. Read more at http://www.sciencedaily.com/