Operando magnetic resonance imaging for mapping of temperature and redox species in thermo-electrochemical cells

An inside look at heat-to-electricity converters

22 March 2022

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for exploring the inner workings of devices that convert waste heat into useful electricity.

Many industrial processes generate heat as a by-product, which usually goes to waste. An underutilized source of energy, this low-grade waste heat can be harvested using thermo-electric cells, which convert heat into electricity. Despite their simple structure, thermo-electric cells tend to be black boxes, and researchers don’t have a detailed understanding of what goes on inside them.

Now, three researchers from Deakin University in Australia have peered inside thermo-electric cells using specially designed operando MRI.

Using this technique, they were able to create maps of the temperature inside cells and also of the concentrations of the redox species. These maps will be valuable for informing the design and optimization of thermo-electric cells.

Supported content

References

1. Nature Communications 12, 6438 (2021). doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26813-8