A new European project on thermoelectrics started

A new European project on thermoelectrics started- UncorrelaTEd
  • Energy and environment
  • Energy storage

The kick-off meeting of UncorrelaTEd was held the 21st of January 2020 in Castellón (Spain). UncorrelaTEd is a FET Open European project that stands for “Solid-liquid thermoelectric systems with uncorrelated properties“.

The current thermoelectric (TE) technology is limited by low efficiency. UncorrelaTEd aims at introducing a new paradigm in thermoelectricity that comes from the connection of TEs and electrochemistry, using a properly designed hybrid system, formed by a porous TE solid permeated by a liquid electrolyte. Significant improvements in performance are therefore expected. These will enable this technology to be implemented in many areas, such as self-powered sensors, empowering the elimination of batteries, textiles, factories, power plants, and combustion engines.

The project has a total budget of 2.5 M€ and will run for 4 years starting from Jan 2020. It is led by the University Jaume I, and the project partners are IREC, KTH, Warwick University, Solvionic and Intenanomat.

Prof. Andreu Cabot, head of the Functional Nanomaterials group at IREC, leads WP3. The aim of this work package is to demonstrate hybrid TE systems using oxide materials (both n and p-type) displaying more than 4 times power factor improvement by the presence of an electrolyte.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 863222.