An international research team has used a “thermal metamaterial” to control the emission of radiation at high temperatures, an advance that could bring devices able to efficiently harvest waste heat from power plants and factories.

Roughly 50 to 60 percent of the energy generated in coal and oil-based power plants is wasted as heat. However, thermophotovoltaic devices that generate electricity from thermal radiation might be adapted to industrial pipes in factories and power plants, as well as on car engines and automotive exhaust systems, to recapture much of the wasted energy.

In new findings, researchers demonstrated howto restrict emission of thermal radiation to a portion of the spectrum most needed for thermophotovoltaic technology.

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