An electrochemical system for efficiently harvesting low-grade heat energy
Name
An electrochemical system for highly efficient harvesting of low-grade heat energy.pdf
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2 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Lee, Seok Woo
Yang, Yuan
Lee, Hyun-Wook
Ghasemi, Hadi
Kraemer, Daniel
Chen, Gang
Cui, Yi
Date Issued
May 2014
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Lee, Seok Woo, Yuan Yang, Hyun-Wook Lee, Hadi Ghasemi, Daniel Kraemer, Gang Chen, and Yi Cui. “An Electrochemical System for Efficiently Harvesting Low-Grade Heat Energy.” Nature Communications 5 (May 21, 2014).
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Efficient and low-cost thermal energy-harvesting systems are needed to utilize the tremendous low-grade heat sources. Although thermoelectric devices are attractive, its efficiency is limited by the relatively low figure-of-merit and low-temperature differential. An alternative approach is to explore thermodynamic cycles. Thermogalvanic effect, the dependence of electrode potential on temperature, can construct such cycles. In one cycle, an electrochemical cell is charged at a temperature and then discharged at a different temperature with higher cell voltage, thereby converting heat to electricity. Here we report an electrochemical system using a copper hexacyanoferrate cathode and a Cu/Cu[superscript 2+] anode to convert heat into electricity. The electrode materials have low polarization, high charge capacity, moderate temperature coefficients and low specific heat. These features lead to a high heat-to-electricity energy conversion efficiency of 5.7% when cycled between 10 and 60 °C, opening a promising way to utilize low-grade heat.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4942
