Novel porous thermosensitive gel electrolytes for wearable thermo-electrochemical cells
Journal
Chemical Engineering Journal
Journal Volume
449
Start Page
137775
ISSN
13858947
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Zhou, Yuetong
Zhang, Shuai
Buckingham, Mark A.
Beirne, Stephen
Wu, Chang
Liu, Yuqing
Wallace, Gordon
Chen, Jun
Abstract
Thermo-electrochemical cells (TECs) represent an efficient and low-cost heat-harvesting device that can directly convert human body heat energy into electricity. However, the flexible, solid-state gelled electrolytes used in wearable thermocell devices suffer from poor mass transport of electrolyte. Here, a novel porous gel is developed via sodium acetate (NaAc) templates and freeze-drying treatment that is applied in p-type gelled electrolyte: poly-acrylamide (PAM) - K3/4[Fe(CN)6] and integrated into platinum (Pt) electrodes for wearable devices. Moreover, the guanidinium ([Gdm]+) is initially introduced into gelled electrolytes, and the p-type cell effectively boosts the maximum power density from 4.01 to 7.68 mW m−2 at ΔT = 10 °C, and exhibits a quick thermosensitive response under a broad temperature range (15 – 55 °C), which is sufficient for working conditions of wearable devices. The optimised porous gel host was also utilized in series with an n-type: PAM-FeCl2/3-HCl gelled electrolyte. The multiple thermocells (12 pairs) were further fabricated into a device by alternating p- and n-type cells in series. This device was found to output nearly 0.23 V at ΔT = 10 °C, and was manufactured into a flexible wearable device that was demonstrated to successfully harvest human body heat by both charging a supercapacitor (100 mF), and illuminating an LED, demonstrating the potential of actual application of our n-p-type in series devices. © 2022
Subjects
Human body heat
Porous gel electrolyte
Thermo-electrochemical cells
Thermosensitive
Wearable device
Publisher
Elsevier B.V.
Description
論文編號: 137775
Type
journal article