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Thermal-energy conversion: Under pressure

The conversion of low-grade waste heat into electrical energy is an attractive opportunity to harvest a sustainable energy resource. A thermo-osmotic energy conversion process that uses Earth-abundant materials has now been shown to convert waste heat into electrical energy from sources at temperatures as low as 40 °C.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the TOEC process.

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Correspondence to William A. Phillip.

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Phillip, W. Thermal-energy conversion: Under pressure. Nat Energy 1, 16101 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.101

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