Ultrastrong, flexible thermogalvanic armor with a Carnot-relative efficiency over 8%

Jinpei Wang, Yuxin Song, Fanfei Yu, Yijun Zeng, Chenyang Wu, Xuezhi Qin, Liang Peng, Yitan Li, Yongsen Zhou, Ran Tao, Hangchen Liu, Hong Zhu, Ming Sun, Wanghuai Xu, Chao Zhang () and Zuankai Wang ()
Additional contact information
Jinpei Wang: City University of Hong Kong
Yuxin Song: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Fanfei Yu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Yijun Zeng: City University of Hong Kong
Chenyang Wu: City University of Hong Kong
Xuezhi Qin: City University of Hong Kong
Liang Peng: City University of Hong Kong
Yitan Li: City University of Hong Kong
Yongsen Zhou: City University of Hong Kong
Ran Tao: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hangchen Liu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Zhu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Ming Sun: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Wanghuai Xu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Chao Zhang: Zhejiang University
Zuankai Wang: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Body heat, a clean and ubiquitous energy source, is promising as a renewable resource to supply wearable electronics. Emerging tough thermogalvanic device could be a sustainable platform to convert body heat energy into electricity for powering wearable electronics if its Carnot-relative efficiency (ηr) reaches ~5%. However, maximizing both the ηr and mechanical strength of the device are mutually exclusive. Here, we develop a rational strategy to construct a flexible thermogalvanic armor (FTGA) with a ηr over 8% near room temperature, yet preserving mechanical robustness. The key to our design lies in simultaneously realizing the thermosensitive-crystallization and salting-out effect in the elaborately designed ion-transport highway to boost ηr and improve mechanical strength. The FTGA achieves an ultrahigh ηr of 8.53%, coupling with impressive mechanical toughness of 70.65 MJ m−3 and substantial elongation (~900%) together. Our strategy holds sustainable potential for harvesting body heat and powering wearable electronics without recharging.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51002-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-51002-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51002-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().