Other than saving energy and developing renewable energy, extracting energy from waste heat is a viable strategy to tackle the current energy crisis. The students at The University of Hong Kong had identified the sources and portions of low-grade heat around us and produced a more efficient thermal battery to recover the waste heat.
The aim is to use low-cost and eco-friendly materials to produce a portable, flexible, and easily operated thermal battery. By applying the graphene oxide – carbon paper (GO-CP) and polyaniline-carbon (PANI-C) materials as the positive and negative electrode respectively, the thermal battery could achieve waste heat recovery efficiency estimated to be about 3%. The estimated production cost is lower than the conventional thermoelectric module, which makes the thermal battery feasible in large-scale application.
The target applications in 4 areas, including transportation vehicle, cooking appliance, electricity generation, and storage and self-powered sensor, were demonstrated. The flexible property perfectly allows the thermal battery to be a visor cover and could be attached to any curved surface. The real-world application of converting waste heat from boiling water to charge a mobile phone is appealing. The modular design can be easily customized for different applications. Moreover, the device can serve as a practical sensor because of the linear relationship between temperature difference and voltage generated. From basic principles to real-world applications, the group had conducted in-depth research and development for the thermal battery.
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