Thermoelectric phenomena in ferrofluids

The application of a temperature difference (∆T) across a solid conductor causes mobile charge carriers to diffuse from hot to cold regions, giving rise to a thermoelectric voltage ∆V=-Se. ∆T. The prefactor Se is called the thermopower or Seebeck coefficient which describes how electrical energy can be generated from the thermal energy. The great majority of today’s thermoelectric (TE) research is focused on improving the efficiency of solid-state TE materials via nanostructuring; which often incurs a substantial production cost. A cheaper and simpler alternative to convert low temperature waste heat into electrical energy can be found in “liquid thermocells” containing TE fluids.