Direct thermal charging cell for converting low-grade heat to electricity

Xun Wang, Yu-Ting Huang, Chang Liu, Kaiyu Mu, Ka Ho Li, Sijia Wang, Yuan Yang, Lei Wang, Chia-Hung Su and Shien-Ping Feng ()
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Xun Wang: The University of Hong Kong
Yu-Ting Huang: The University of Hong Kong
Chang Liu: The University of Hong Kong
Kaiyu Mu: The University of Hong Kong
Ka Ho Li: The University of Hong Kong
Sijia Wang: The University of Hong Kong
Yuan Yang: Columbia University
Lei Wang: The University of Hong Kong
Chia-Hung Su: Ming Chi University of Technology
Shien-Ping Feng: The University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Efficient low-grade heat recovery can help to reduce greenhouse gas emission as over 70% of primary energy input is wasted as heat, but current technologies to fulfill the heat-to-electricity conversion are still far from optimum. Here we report a direct thermal charging cell, using asymmetric electrodes of a graphene oxide/platinum nanoparticles cathode and a polyaniline anode in Fe2+/Fe3+ redox electrolyte via isothermal heating operation. When heated, the cell generates voltage via a temperature-induced pseudocapacitive effect of graphene oxide and a thermogalvanic effect of Fe2+/Fe3+, and then discharges continuously by oxidizing polyaniline and reducing Fe3+ under isothermal heating till Fe3+ depletion. The cell can be self-regenerated when cooled down. Direct thermal charging cells attain a temperature coefficient of 5.0 mV K−1 and heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 2.8% at 70 °C (21.4% of Carnot efficiency) and 3.52% at 90 °C (19.7% of Carnot efficiency), outperforming other thermoelectrochemical and thermoelectric systems.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12144-2

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