An electrochemical system for efficiently harvesting low-grade heat energy

Lee, Seok Woo; Yang, Yuan; Lee, Hyun-Wook; Ghasemi, Hadi; Kraemer, Daniel; Chen, Gang; Cui, Yi

doi:10.1038/ncomms4942

Title: An electrochemical system for efficiently harvesting low-grade heat energy

Journal Article · Wed May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4942· OSTI ID:1385294

Lee, Seok Woo ^[1]; Yang, Yuan ^[2]; Lee, Hyun-Wook ^[1]; Ghasemi, Hadi ^[2]; Kraemer, Daniel ^[2]; Chen, Gang ^[2]; Cui, Yi ^[3]

Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Capable and low-cost thermal energy-harvesting systems are necessary 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 method 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/Cu²⁺ 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.

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Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577; EE0005806

OSTI ID:: 1385294

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 326 works

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