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data-wrangler

This would be an even bigger deal for remote spacecraft that rely on the heat from on-board nuclear reactors.

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I think you are thinking about an RTG instead of an actual reactor.

Some space craft have actually had full reactors on them believe it or not.

Checks out - I didn't realize we actually did fission... in... spaaaaace!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_space#Fission...

There were indeed real nuclear reactors with thermoelectrics being launched in the cold war.

However, thermoelectrics have an efficiency well below 10% (maybe a bit better with this improvement but not much). For that reason, future reactors in space will likely use Stirling engines instead.

Correct. Space stirling designs* (and tested engines) have been much more performant than the RTG designs

*I spent part of my career working on these devices and saw many of them running in labs

Unlikely. Much easier to just connect the sensor to the main power supply via a wire.

RTGs[0] use the thermoelectric effect to generate electricity from the decay heat of radioactive isotopes. This new material would allow better power generation using RTGs.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_ge...

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