EurekAlert  February 12, 2020 A thermocell can convert environmental thermal energy to electric energy via thermal charging effect. However, the output voltage is low and depends on temperature. Researchers in Japan developed a thermocell containing a material that exhibited a temperature-induced phase transition of its crystal structure. Just above room temperature, the atoms in this solid material rearranged to form a different crystal structure. This phase transition resulted in an increase in output voltage from zero to around 120 mV, representing a considerable performance improvement over that of existing thermocells. They were able to finely tune the phase transition temperature […]