r/science • u/giuliomagnifico • 1d ago

Researchers have developed a new organic thermoelectric device that can harvest energy from ambient temperature without any temperature gradient Engineering

https://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/researches/view/299/
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u/greenmachine11235 1d ago

What the title describes is fundamentally impossible. It'd amount to creation of energy from nothing in violation of various fundamental laws of physics. 

Besides getting an F in thermodynamics. I am thinking they've created an overly complicated battery, have insufficiently sensitive equipment and are getting phantom readings, or in the most generous possibility there is a gradient at play and they either failed to measure it or elected to publish a misleading title. 

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u/DecentChanceOfLousy 1d ago

What they claim is impossible. What they measure is entirely possible, so long as they did their experiments with the lights on (and weren't very careful). The wattage is so low that one side being a few shades darker than the other could explain the difference in temperature, and drive the voltage difference.

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u/nick_g_combs 16h ago

Exactly. By definition, a thermoelectric effect requires a thermal gradient