Shibata Takayuki, Iwaizumi Hiroki, Fukuzumi Yuya, Moritomo Yutaka
National Institute of Technology, Gunma College, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8530, Japan.
Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8571, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 4;10(1):1813. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58695-z.
A thermocell that consists of cathode and anode materials with different temperature coefficients (α = dV/dT) of the redox potential (V) can convert environmental thermal energy to electric energy via the so-called thermal charging effect. The output voltage V of the current thermocell, however, is still low (several tens mV) and depends on temperature, which are serious drawbacks for practical use of the device as an independent power supply. Here, we report that usage of phase transition material as electrode qualitatively improve the device performance. We set the critical temperature (T) for the phase transition in cobalt Prussian blue analogue (Co-PBA; NaCo[Fe(CN)]) to just above room temperature, by finely adjusting the Fe concentration (y = 0.82). With increase in the cell temperature (T), V of the NaCo[Fe(CN)] (NCF82)/NaCo[Fe(CN)] (NCF90) cell steeply increases from 0 mV to ~120 mV around 320 K. Our observation indicates that the thermocell with use of phase transition is a promising energy harvesting device.
一种由具有不同氧化还原电位（V）温度系数（α = dV/dT）的阴极和阳极材料组成的热电池，可以通过所谓的热充电效应将环境热能转化为电能。然而，当前热电池的输出电压V仍然很低（几十毫伏），并且取决于温度，这对于该装置作为独立电源的实际应用来说是严重的缺点。在此，我们报告使用相变材料作为电极能定性地提高装置性能。通过精细调节铁浓度（y = 0.82），我们将钴普鲁士蓝类似物（Co-PBA；NaCo[Fe(CN)]）中的相变临界温度（T）设定为略高于室温。随着电池温度（T）的升高，NaCo[Fe(CN)]（NCF82）/NaCo[Fe(CN)]（NCF90）电池的V在320 K左右从0 mV急剧增加到约120 mV。我们的观察表明，使用相变的热电池是一种很有前景的能量收集装置。
