'Molecular accordion' drives thermoelectric behavior in promising material

Engines, laptops and power plants generate waste heat. Thermoelectric materials, which convert temperature gradients to electricity and vice versa, can recover some of that heat and improve energy efficiency. A team of scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored the fundamental physics of the world's best thermoelectric material--tin selenide--using neutron scattering and computer simulations. Their new understanding of the origin of atomic dynamics in this ma...