In a new development, scientists at NUST MISIS have created a new type of energy-efficient devices – the one that use heat of thermocells to convert into energy. This will enable creation of portable batteries that can be virtually used for any surface, including clothing, to generate electric energy directly from the surface. The findings of the study are presented in Renewable Energy.
Meanwhile, thermoelectricity is one of the most promising areas of green energy. The temperature gradient or temperature potential difference is seen everywhere around us – a working transport, a building heated in the sun, even the heat of the human body. The drawback of modern thermoelectrochemical cells is low output power.
New combination of Thermocell to increase Current Output
To address this, scientists at NUST MISIS have developed a new type of thermocell comprising metal oxide and an aqueous electrolyte. Such a combination will increase the current, while at the same time reduce the internal resistance of the element. Since water is used, the output power will increase by 10 to 20 times as compared to analogs.
“The possibility of using nickel oxide electrode build on hollow nickel microspheres in a thermocell shown. Using this, a record value for aqueous electrolytes hypothetical Seebeck coefficient attained. In addition, a nonlinear alteration in current-voltage characteristics found. This is not typical for thermocells ensuring an increase in the efficiency of the device,” said one of the authors of the work at NUST MISIS.
With a high Seebeck coefficient, this will allow the heat of the human body to be used as an energy source. The new structure has another significant advantage- the use of an aqueous electrolyte lowers the cost of production and at the same time increases safety of the system.