MIT Researchers Discover New

Energy Source Called Themopower

Scientists at the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology have
discovered an energy source that
you can see only through a
microscope. It's so tiny, you can't
see it with the naked eye.

MIT scientists at MIT have

discovered a previously unknown
phenomenon that can cause
powerful waves of energy to shoot
through minuscule wires known as
carbon nanotubes. A carbon
nanotube can produce a very rapid
wave of power when it is coated by a layer of fuel and ignited, so that heat travels along the tube. The
discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity. The phenomenon, described as
thermopower waves, opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare. The researchers devised a
process for generating electricity using nanotechnology. They plan to refine the process in hopes of
creating a new environmentally friendly battery, among other products.

In the new experiments conducted by Michael Strano and his team, nanotubes were coated with a layer
of a reactive fuel that can produce heat by decomposing. This fuel was then ignited at one end of the
nanotube using either a laser beam or a high-voltage spark, and the result was a fast-moving thermal
wave traveling along the length of the carbon nanotube like a flame speeding along the length of a lit
fuse. Heat from the fuel goes into the nanotube, where it travels thousands of times faster than in the
fuel itself. As the heat feeds back to the fuel coating, a thermal wave is created that is guided along the
nanotube. With a temperature of 3,000 kelvins, this ring of heat speeds along the tube 10,000 times
faster than the normal spread of this chemical reaction. The heating produced by that combustion, it
turns out, also pushes electrons along the tube, creating a substantial electrical current.

Strano said his team generated a so-called thermopower wave and stumbled across a reaction that may
eventually be used to power electronics, computers and cell phones.

"This could lead to batteries that are up to 10 times smaller and still have the same power output. In the
portable energy and energy conservation arena, we're trying to find power sources that have a smaller
profile but hold more energy, some of the advantages of this technology [are] you can generate a lot of
power from a very, very small device." once Strano told CNN Radio.

And that's not all. Most batteries on the market now are made from highly toxic heavy metals, which are
very bad for the environment -- metals like lead, nickel and cadmium.
Batteries made from this new thermopower technology would be completely nontoxic, Strano said.

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