Issue 28, 2021

Thermo-osmotic ionogel enabled high-efficiency harvesting of low-grade heat

Abstract

Low efficiency in recovering low-grade heat remains unresolved despite decades of attempts. In this research, we designed and fabricated a novel thermo-osmotic ionogel (TOI) composite to recover low-grade heat to generate electric power through a thermo-induced ion gradient and selective ion diffusion. The TOI composite was assembled with a crystalline ionogel (polymer-confined LiNO3–3H2O) film, ion selective membrane, and hydrogel film. With a 90 °C heat supply, the single TOI composite produced a high open-circuit voltage of 0.52 V, a differential thermal voltage of ∼26 mV K−1, a peak power density of 0.4 W m−2, and a ground-breaking peak energy conversion efficiency of 11.17%. Eight pieces of such a TOI composite were connected in series, demonstrating an open-circuit voltage of 3.25 volts. Such a TOI system was also demonstrated to harvest body temperature for powering a LED, opening numerous opportunities in powering wearable devices.

Graphical abstract: Thermo-osmotic ionogel enabled high-efficiency harvesting of low-grade heat

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Mar 2021
Accepted
21 Jun 2021
First published
21 Jun 2021

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021,9, 15755-15765

Author version available

Thermo-osmotic ionogel enabled high-efficiency harvesting of low-grade heat

W. Li, Y. Liu, Z. Zhang, R. Liu, J. Qiu and S. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 15755 DOI: 10.1039/D1TA01836A

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