High-thermopower polarized electrolytes enabled by methylcellulose for low-grade heat harvesting.

ABSTRACT: Low-grade heat exists ubiquitously in the environment. Thermogalvanic cells (TGCs) are promising for converting the widespread low-grade heat directly into electricity owing to relatively high thermopowers of redox reactions. This work reports polarized electrolytes with ultrahigh thermopowers of -8.18 mV K^-1 for n-type and 9.62 mV K^-1 for p-type. The electrolyte consists of I^-/I₃^- redox couple, methylcellulose, and KCl. Thermoresponsive methylcellulose leads to polarization switching from n-type to p-type above a transition temperature due to the strong hydrophobic interaction between methylcellulose and I₃^- ions. The giant thermopowers can be attributed to the simultaneously enhanced entropy change and concentra

SUBMITTER: Han Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8856612 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature