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Flexible nanocomposite electrodes with optimized hybrid structure for improved low-grade heat harvest via thermocells

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Abstract

Thermal energy is ubiquitous and constantly generated in nature and society. Thermocells (TECs) represent a promising energy-conversion technology that can directly translate thermal energy into electricity with a large thermopower, thus having attracted considerable attention in recent years. Nevertheless, the use of noble platinum electrodes in TECs has substantially limited their widespread applications, as the scarcity of platinum element increases the cost of materials, and its intrinsic rigidity is not conducive to flexible and wearable applications under heat sources with complex surface geometry. Herein, we propose a facile hybridizing route to constructing flexible electrodes with optimized nanostructures. The flexible composite electrode is fabricated by decorating a single-walled carbon nanotube network with conducting polypyrrole nanospheres through controlled electrochemical deposition. With refined interfacial nanostructures, the resultant composite film can facilitate carrier transport/transfer at the electrolyte-electrode interface, and thereby shows superior overall thermoelectrochemical performance to noble platinum electrode. The TEC employing the flexible composite electrodes yields a maximum output power of 2.555 µW under the temperature difference of 30 K, and a device comprising 6 TEC units is assembled to efficiently utilize waste heat and human body heat, revealing the high potential of low-grade heat harvesting.

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Acknowledgements

This work was support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52103089), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2023A1515012120), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20220531100815035, RCBS2022100-8093126069) and the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (sklpme2022-4-08). The authors also thank the Instrumental Analysis Center of Shenzhen University (Lihu Campus) for their assistance with SEM characterization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Ziwei Mo, Jiaqian Zhou, Xin Lu, Lirong Liang, Fusheng Liu, Zhuoxin Liu & Guangming Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Zhuoxin Liu

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  1. Ziwei Mo
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  2. Jiaqian Zhou
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  3. Xin Lu
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  4. Lirong Liang
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  5. Fusheng Liu
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  6. Zhuoxin Liu
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  7. Guangming Chen
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Correspondence to Zhuoxin Liu or Guangming Chen.

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Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Supporting information The supporting information is available online at https://chem.scichina.com and https://link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Mo, Z., Zhou, J., Lu, X. et al. Flexible nanocomposite electrodes with optimized hybrid structure for improved low-grade heat harvest via thermocells. Sci. China Chem. 66, 1814–1823 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1567-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1567-0

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