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Title: Membrane-Free Battery for Harvesting Low-Grade Thermal Energy

Abstract

Efficient and low-cost systems are desired to harvest the tremendous amount of energy stored in low-grade heat sources (<100 °C). An attractive approach is the thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC), which uses the dependence of electrode potential on temperature to construct a thermodynamic cycle for direct heat-to-electricity conversion. By varying the temperature, an electrochemical cell is charged at a lower voltage than discharged; thus, thermal energy is converted to electricity. Recently, a Prussian blue analog-based system with high efficiency has been demonstrated. However, the use of an ion-selective membrane in this system raises concerns about the overall cost, which is crucial for waste heat harvesting. We report on a new membrane-free battery with a nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) cathode and a silver/silver chloride anode. The system has a temperature coefficient of -0.74 mV K–1. When the battery is discharged at 15 °C and recharged at 55 °C, thermal-to-electricity conversion efficiencies of 2.6% and 3.5% are achieved with assumed heat recuperation of 50% and 70%, respctively. This work opens new opportunities for using membrane-free electrochemical systems to harvest waste heat.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Inst. for Materials and Energy Sciences
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1385292
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577; EE0005806; AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nano Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
25 ENERGY STORAGE; low-grade thermal energy; battery; TREC; thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle; membrane-free; electrochemical systems

Citation Formats

Yang, Yuan, Loomis, James, Ghasemi, Hadi, Lee, Seok Woo, Wang, Yi Jenny, Cui, Yi, and Chen, Gang. Membrane-Free Battery for Harvesting Low-Grade Thermal Energy. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1021/nl5032106.
Yang, Yuan, Loomis, James, Ghasemi, Hadi, Lee, Seok Woo, Wang, Yi Jenny, Cui, Yi, & Chen, Gang. Membrane-Free Battery for Harvesting Low-Grade Thermal Energy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl5032106
Yang, Yuan, Loomis, James, Ghasemi, Hadi, Lee, Seok Woo, Wang, Yi Jenny, Cui, Yi, and Chen, Gang. Mon . "Membrane-Free Battery for Harvesting Low-Grade Thermal Energy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl5032106. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1385292.
@article{osti_1385292,
title = {Membrane-Free Battery for Harvesting Low-Grade Thermal Energy},
author = {Yang, Yuan and Loomis, James and Ghasemi, Hadi and Lee, Seok Woo and Wang, Yi Jenny and Cui, Yi and Chen, Gang},
abstractNote = {Efficient and low-cost systems are desired to harvest the tremendous amount of energy stored in low-grade heat sources (<100 °C). An attractive approach is the thermally regenerative electrochemical cycle (TREC), which uses the dependence of electrode potential on temperature to construct a thermodynamic cycle for direct heat-to-electricity conversion. By varying the temperature, an electrochemical cell is charged at a lower voltage than discharged; thus, thermal energy is converted to electricity. Recently, a Prussian blue analog-based system with high efficiency has been demonstrated. However, the use of an ion-selective membrane in this system raises concerns about the overall cost, which is crucial for waste heat harvesting. We report on a new membrane-free battery with a nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) cathode and a silver/silver chloride anode. The system has a temperature coefficient of -0.74 mV K–1. When the battery is discharged at 15 °C and recharged at 55 °C, thermal-to-electricity conversion efficiencies of 2.6% and 3.5% are achieved with assumed heat recuperation of 50% and 70%, respctively. This work opens new opportunities for using membrane-free electrochemical systems to harvest waste heat.},
doi = {10.1021/nl5032106},
journal = {Nano Letters},
number = 11,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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