Machine-learning guided discovery of a new thermoelectric material.

Thermoelectric technologies are becoming indispensable in the quest for a sustainable future. Recently, an emerging phenomenon, the spin-driven thermoelectric effect (STE), has garnered much attention as a promising path towards low cost and versatile thermoelectric technology with easily scalable manufacturing. However, progress in development of STE devices is hindered by the lack of understanding of the fundamental physics and materials properties responsible for the effect.

Flexible heat-flow sensing sheets based on the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect using one-dimensional spin-current conducting films.

Heat-flow sensing is expected to be an important technological component of smart thermal management in the future. Conventionally, the thermoelectric (TE) conversion technique, which is based on the Seebeck effect, has been used to measure a heat flow by converting the flow into electric voltage. However, for ubiquitous heat-flow visualization, thin and flexible sensors with extremely low thermal resistance are highly desired.

Spin-current-driven thermoelectric coating.

Energy harvesting technologies, which generate electricity from environmental energy, have been attracting great interest because of their potential to power ubiquitously deployed sensor networks and mobile electronics. Of these technologies, thermoelectric (TE) conversion is a particularly promising candidate, because it can directly generate electricity from the thermal energy that is available in various places. Here we show a novel TE concept based on the spin Seebeck effect, called 'spin-thermoelectric (STE) coating', which is characterized by a simple film structure, convenient scaling capability, and easy fabrication.