Chen's team found their breakthrough with their choice of conductive media—alloys of hydride, which are lab-made metallic substances that include hydrogen molecules with two electrons.

More information: Yu Zhang et al, Superionic iron hydride shapes ultralow-velocity zones at Earth's core–mantle boundary, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073 ...

By integrating a new type of metal hydride refrigeration system, this potential can be exploited and, depending on the application, up to 10% more range can be achieved. The cooling power of the metal ...