New Lead (Pb) free material discovered

New Lead (Pb) free material discovered

Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Sci & Tech; Achievements of Indians

In news

• Scientists have found a new Lead (Pb) free material.
• Identified by: Scientists at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru.
• It is called Cadmium (Cd) doped Silver Antimony Telluride (AgSbTe2).

Key takeaways

• It can efficiently convert waste heat to power our small home equipment and automobiles.
• Most efficient thermoelectric materials developed so far use Lead (Pb) as a major constituent element, restricting their use for mass-market applications.
• This work is supported by Swarna-Jayanti fellowship.

Do you know?

• The Swarna Jayanti Fellowships scheme was launched by the Indian Government to commemorate India’s 50th Independence.
• It provides special assistance and support to a selected number of young scientists with a proven track record to enable them to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology.
• The award consists of a Fellowship of Rs. 25000 per month along with the salary drawn from the parent Institute and a Research Grant of Rs. 5 lakh per annum by Department of Science and Technology (DST) for a period of 5 years.