Wu Yao, Li Ying, Long Yutao, Xu Yuebing, Yang Jingguo, Zhu Haiyan, Liu Tianxi, Shi Gang
Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biotechnology Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, PR China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Sep 7;14(35):40437-40446. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c11223. Epub 2022 Aug 25.
In a photo-thermo-electric system, solar energy is first converted into heat and then into electrical energy, which has attracted much attention. However, the heat of the cold side of a thermoelectric generator (TEG) is generally removed by an air-cooling or water-cooling technology without being fully utilized, resulting in a low solar energy utilization efficiency. Here, we designed an integrated system composed of a photo-thermo-electric conversion part and a waste energy collection part. In this system, one carbon foam (CF) doped with PPy and PEG is used as a layer for photothermal conversion and energy storage, and the other CF─where one side was hydrophobically modified─is used for the storage of cooling water and the recovery of waste heat. The two CF layers contact the hot and cold sides of TEG, respectively. With the system, solar energy can be converted into heat and then electricity for TEG. On the other hand, waste heat can be utilized for seawater desalination by the process of water evaporation. In addition, the integrated system can work sustainably under intermittent light conditions. With the recovery of waste heat, the solar energy utilization efficiency in this system is greatly increased to as much as 86%.
在光热发电系统中，太阳能首先被转化为热能，然后再转化为电能，这一过程已引起了广泛关注。然而，热电发电机（TEG）冷端的热量通常通过风冷或水冷技术被移除，而未得到充分利用，导致太阳能利用效率较低。在此，我们设计了一种由光热转换部分和废能收集部分组成的集成系统。在该系统中，一种掺杂有聚吡咯（PPy）和聚乙二醇（PEG）的碳泡沫（CF）用作光热转换和能量存储层，另一种CF（其一侧进行了疏水改性）用于储存冷却水和回收废热。这两层CF分别与TEG的热端和冷端接触。利用该系统，太阳能可先转化为热能，然后为TEG发电。另一方面，废热可通过水蒸发过程用于海水淡化。此外，该集成系统在间歇光照条件下可持续运行。通过回收废热，该系统的太阳能利用效率大幅提高至86%。
