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New thermoelectric cooling breakthrough nearly doubles efficiency


CHESS thin-film materials nearly double refrigeration efficiency compared to traditional methods. Scalable and versatile, they promise applications from household cooling to space exploration.

The push for more efficient and compact cooling technologies is fueled by a variety of factors, including population growth, urbanization and an increasing reliance on advanced electronics and data infrastructure. Bulk thermoelectric materials are used in small devices like mini-fridges, but their limited efficiency, low heat-pumping capacity and incompatibility with scalable semiconductor chip fabrication have historically prevented their wider use in high-performance systems. "In addition to advancing next-generation tactile systems, prosthetics and human-machine interfaces, this opens the door to scalable energy-harvesting technologies for applications ranging from computers to spacecraft -- capabilities that weren't feasible with older bulkier thermoelectric devices."

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