

Prof Ian Kinloch, Professor of Materials Science

Harvesting heat produced by a car's engine which would otherwise be wasted and using it to recharge the car's batteries or powering the air-conditioning system could be a significant feature in the next generation of hybrid cars.

The average car currently loses around 70% of energy generated through to heat. Utilising that lost energy requires a thermoelectric material which can generate an electrical current from the application of heat.


Currently, materials which exhibit these properties are often toxic and operate at very high temperatures – higher than that produced by car engines. By adding graphene, a new of could reduce carbon emissions globally from car use.

Scientists from The University of Manchester working with European Thermodynamics Ltd have increased the potential for low cost to be used more widely in the automotive industry.



Prof Freer said: "Current oxide thermoelectric materials are limited by their operating temperatures which can be around 700 degrees Celsius. This has been a problem which has hampered efforts to improve efficiency by utilising waste for some time.



The findings were published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Graphene's range of superlative properties and small size causes the transfer of through the material to slow leading to the desired lower operating temperatures.


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Boosting gas mileage by turning engine heat into electricity

More information: "Thermoelectric Power Generation from Lanthanum Strontium Titanium Oxide at Room Temperature through the Addition of Graphene." ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2015 Jul 29;7(29):15898-908. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b03522
Citation: Graphene drives potential for the next-generation of fuel-efficient cars (2015, August 4) retrieved 18 November 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2015-08-graphene-potential-next-generation-fuel-efficient-cars.html

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