Creating electricity from heat

    A new alloy is able to convert heat directly into electricity.
    The alloy, a multiferroic composite of nickel, cobalt, manganese and tin, can quickly and dramatically change from non-magnetic to extremely magnetic when heated only a small amount. When the alloy is located near a rare- earth magnet, a current is produced in a surrounding coil.
    The new allow could have applications in harvesting waste heat from car exhausts, particularly since many hybrid batteries already have rare-earth magnets installed as a requirement of the system.