Thermoelectric materials have the unique ability to generate electricity from heat — holding promise for the design of more-efficient machines. Their promise has yet to be ful-filled, however, because of their relatively low efficiencies. A material developed by scientists at the Vienna Univ. of Technology in Austria offers some hope for thermo-electrics. Consisting of molecular cages of sorts with single atoms trapped inside, the new material exhibits much higher efficiency than a reference material.
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