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Harvesting Waste Thermal Energy Using a Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thermo-Electrochemical Cell
Open accessAbstract
Low efficiencies and costly electrode materials have limited harvesting of thermal energy as electrical energy using thermo-electrochemical cells (or "thermocells"). We demonstrate thermocells, in practical configurations (from coin cells to cells that can be wrapped around exhaust pipes), that harvest low-grade thermal energy using relatively inexpensive carbon multiwalled nanotube (MWNT) electrodes. These electrodes provide high electrochemically accessible surface areas and fast redox-mediated electron transfer, which significantly enhances thermocell current generation capacity and overall efficiency. Thermocell efficiency is further improved by directly synthesizing MWNTs as vertical forests that reduce electrical and thermal resistance at electrode/substrate junctions. The efficiency of thermocells with MWNT electrodes is shown to be as high as 1.4% of Carnot efficiency, which is 3-fold higher than for previously demonstrated thermocells. With the cost of MWNTs decreasing, MWNT-based thermocells may become commercially viable for harvesting low-grade thermal energy.
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Cited by
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Han, C.-G., Qian, X., Li, Q., Deng, B., Zhu, Y., Han, Z., Zhang, W., Wang, W., Feng, S.-P., Chen, G., et al. (2020) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaz5045 · Cited by 759
An electrochemical system for efficiently harvesting low-grade heat energy
Lee, S. W., Yang, Y., Lee, H.-W., Ghasemi, H., Kraemer, D., Chen, G., & Cui, Y. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms4942 · Cited by 507
Self-citationPu, X., Hu, W., & Wang, Z. L. (2018) · Small · doi:10.1002/smll.201702817 · Cited by 378
Harvesting low-grade heat energy using thermo-osmotic vapour transport through nanoporous membranes
Straub, A. P., Yip, N. Y., Lin, S., Lee, J., & Elimelech, M. (2016) · Nature Energy · doi:10.1038/nenergy.2016.90 · Cited by 308
Charging-free electrochemical system for harvesting low-grade thermal energy
Yang, Y., Lee, S. W., Ghasemi, H., Loomis, J., Li, X., Kraemer, D., Zheng, G., Cui, Y., & Chen, G. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1415097111 · Cited by 276
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hu, R., Cola, B. A., Haram, N., Barisci, J. N., Lee, S., Stoughton, S., Wallace, G., Too, C., Thomas, M., Gestos, A., Cruz, M. E. D., Ferraris, J. P., Zakhidov, A. A., & Baughman, R. H.
- Venue
- Nano Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2010-02-19
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 838-846
- ISSN
- 1530-6984 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-6992
- OpenAlex
- W2085977045
- Cited by
- 523
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 6.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Hu, R., Cola, B. A., Haram, N., Barisci, J. N., Lee, S., Stoughton, S., Wallace, G., Too, C., Thomas, M., Gestos, A., Cruz, M. E. D., Ferraris, J. P., Zakhidov, A. A., & Baughman, R. H. (2010). Harvesting Waste Thermal Energy Using a Carbon-Nanotube-Based Thermo-Electrochemical Cell. Nano Letters. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl903267n
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