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Issued patent
Metallic Junction Thermoelectric (MJTE) Generator
An issued NASA patent from the Technology Transfer catalog.
About this technology
Overview
NASA's Langley Research Center has developed a new concept thermoelectric (TE) principle based on thin-film metal-metal junctions. This approach substantially increases the TE efficiency and power density. When two metals with different vacancy states selected for the greatest possible disparity are in a junction, this junction naturally allows the greatest number of charges across the barrier by the charge disparity. Metals have higher electron pools 10 3 -10 4 C/cm 3 and the metal junctions, simpler than semiconductor junctions, can be made smaller and more energy compact.