Hydrogel-based thermoelectrochemical cells for waste heat recovery under passive cooling conditions.

ABSTRACT: With global energy demands rising and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, capturing low-temperature waste heat, which represents ≈ 60% of overall energy waste, offers a compelling pathway to sustainability. Thermoelectrochemical cells (TECs) are promising for converting low-grade heat into electricity but face limitations with liquid electrolytes, including inefficiency and instability under passive cooling. In this work, we introduce hydrogel-based TECs (HyTECs) as a solution to these challenges, leveraging their low thermal conductivity and permeability to sustain larger thermal gradients and stable operation across diverse conditions. We demonstrate that HyTECs achieve a power output of up to 3.5 μW cm^-2 under passive cooling with a hot temperature of 55-65 °C, compa

SUBMITTER: Bevione M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12219540 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature