Impact theme
Renewable energy integration and grid modernisation

Sector
Energy Systems

Stage

Affiliation
DTU Energy

Team
Jixi Chen, postdoc and Technological Development
Nini Pryds, Professor and Scientific Advisor

Why it Matters

Our society faces an inevitable transition to clean energy. Currently, an alarming 72% of energy is lost during conversion from primary sources to final use, highlighting critical inefficiencies in our systems. Utilizing some of this waste heat by transforming it to electrical energy could significantly reduce the global energy consumption.

Working on

While thermoelectric conversion offers a promising path to reclaim waste energy, three key challenges limit its adoption: poor efficiency rates of 5-8%, reliance on temperature gradients, and sustainability concerns with current materials. The team is developing a new solid-state battery system that harnesses thermal energy during heating cycles and converts it to electrical energy during cooling phases. Operating within 120-300 °C above ambient conditions, the system efficiently captures low-grade heat from previously untapped sources and convert it into electricity.