Spintronics Discovery Could Lead to Magnetic Batteries
by Jaymi Heimbuch, Central Coast, California on 10.10.08
Photo via PhysOrg
Scientists have had spintronics in their sights for a little while now, aiming to uncover a way to use magnetism for battery power. Everyone wants better batteries, and magnetic batteries have the potential for using magnetic currents rather than electric currents. Now a breakthrough has been achieved that brings us closer to the possibility of using this phenomenon to run more efficient devices.
From Science News:
Eiji Saitoh of Keio University in Yokohama, Japan, and his collaborators found that heating one side of a magnetized nickel-iron rod changes the arrangement of the electrons in the material according to their spins. These spins are the quantum-physics analogs of the south-north magnetic axes in bar magnets. In the heated rod, electrons with spins that are aligned “up,” or with the material’s magnetic field, tend to prefer the warmer side, while those with spins pointing in the opposite direction, or “down,” tend to prefer the cooler side.
The spin-Seekbeck Effect
Called the “spin-Seebeck” effect after physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck who discovered this thermoelectric effect in the 1800s, engineers may be able to use this spinning effect to create new devices for computer chips that use these magnetic imbalances rather than electricity, which would also cut down on waste heat. Therefore, they would use less power and operate faster. Kind of a bummer for the folks at Murata who are working on ways to use laptop waste heat, but good news for all the notebook users who want better, greener batteries.
Energy Efficient Batteries and Computer Chips
With this cool breakthrough, scientists can now work on designing devices that store information magnetically and can move us towards far more efficient batteries and, thus better computer chips. Perhaps report cards for battery companies will have to be redesigned soon.
Via Science News
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Definitely some awesome new / innovative tech!
I wonder where else this can be applied.
What exactly is the great new development here?
Spin-Seebeck effect: nope, that's been understood for quite a while.
Using heat to generate electricity directly: nope, not sure if the underlying mechanism is similar but the Peltier effect does the same thing and products already exist (though they are not particularly effective).
Is it the material used? Maybe, though iron and nickel aren't exactly exotic so I'd be surprised if they haven't already been used in thermocouples.
How exactly does this give great potential for a battery? In order to create a current it still has to be heated externally.
A little more detail needed, I am very interested especially by the diagram, which seems to indicate a current in the loop but the voltage appears to be across the rod which is not part of a circuit. So either Nature editors have slipped up (does happen) or this isn't anything to with conventional electronics or batteries. I shall read the source article and report back.
Reading the source article gives a completely different view of the breakthrough. It is not as such creating a new type of battery, more a move towards a different means of computing. To set the record straight, it boils down to this:
1) Convential circuits use electric currents to convey information. Electric currents generate heat, which is inefficient.
2) It is possible that altering the spin of electons could be used to carry information. This is preferential, as changing the spin of electrons does not generate heat and so would be efficient.
3) Prior to this breakthrough it was difficult to generate magnet or spin currents. However, this allows such currents to be generated easily (though I can''t help noticing heat is still required).
What this means for the consumer:
1) Not a lot, for the time being at least. For the technology to be useful it requires a complete redesign of every chip in your computer. This isn't simply going to be an of-the-shelf battery replacement
To TH writers:
if you going to report on a development, make sure you actually understand what is written. The above article is bordering on misleading as a result.
George - Looks like you boiled down the article quite well. Your conclusions match up pretty closely with what I wrote in the post, though a nice 1,2,3 outline will help readers with different reading styles. Glad someone else is as interested in this stuff as I am.