Laboratoire Léon Brillouin
UMR12 CEA-CNRS, Bât. 563 CEA Saclay
91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
+33-169085241 llb-sec@cea.fr
The development of new technologies for energy implies mastering the process of conversion between the different forms (solar, thermal, chemical, electrical, mechanical, etc.), as well as storage processes:
Solar energy can be directly transformed into electrical energy via the photovoltaic process and stored in accumulators. It can also be transformed directly into chemical energy (hydrogen) by photocatalysis. Electrical energy of every origin, can also be stored in the form of hydrogen, which can be used in fuel cells. The conversion efficiency is directly related to that of the associated electrochemical process (during electrolysis or use in a cell).
The thermoelectric effects Seebeck and Peltier allow the conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy and vice versa. Using the Seebeck effect allows recovering waste heat to produce electricity. Conversely, it is possible the Peltier effect allows locally cooling a device by application of a gradient of electrical potential. For a long time, these thermoelectric effects have very low yields and thus have found only marginal applications. The discovery of new promising materials, advances in nanofabrication and the growing desire to respond to energy saving requirements have revived research in this area.
Physicians and chemists of IRAMIS work to develop and optimize these different methods :
Several orientations are followed by the SPHYNX and GMT teams within SPEC: