TY - JOUR A1 - Dzekan, D. A1 - Waske, Anja A1 - Nielsch, K. A1 - Fähler, S. T1 - Efficient and affordable thermomagnetic materials for harvesting low grade waste heat JF - APL Materials N2 - Industrial processes release substantial quantities of waste heat, which can be harvested to generate electricity. At present, the conversion of low grade waste heat to electricity relies solely on thermoelectric materials, but such materials are expensive and have low thermodynamic efficiencies. Although thermomagnetic materials may offer a promising alternative, their performance remains to be evaluated, thereby hindering their real-world application. Here, the efficiency and cost effectiveness of thermomagnetic materials are evaluated for the usage in motors, oscillators, and generators for converting waste heat to electricity. The analysis reveals that up to temperature differences of several 10 K, the best thermomagnetic materials have the potential to compete with thermoelectric materials. Importantly, it is found that the price per watt of some thermomagnetic materials is much lower compared to that of present-day thermoelectrics, which can become competitive with conventional power plants. This materials library enables the selection of the best available thermomagnetic materials for harvesting waste heat and gives guidelines for their future development. KW - Waste heat conversion KW - Magnetic materials KW - Thermomagnetic generator PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-541493 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0033970 VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville, USA AN - OPUS4-54149 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -