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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

An ink ‘writes’ tiny generators that are powered by heat

Printing technique could help to produce minute power sources for use in lightweight sensors and wearable devices.
Grid of six images showing a model, micrograph and close up details of a 3D printed lattice

A latticework box (model, top left; photograph, bottom left) built by layering 3D-printed ink filaments (middle and right columns). The ink’s properties make it suitable for turning a heat flow into an electric current. Credit: Fredrick Kim et al./Nat. Electron.

With the help of a new 3D-printing ink, scientists have crafted a miniature generator that efficiently transforms the flow of heat into an electric current.

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Nature 596, 320 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02182-6

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