The amplifying effect of natural convection on power generation of thermogalvanic cells

Gunawan, Andrey; Li, Hechao; Lin, Chao Han; Buttry, Daniel A.; Mújica, Vladimiro; Taylor, Robert A.; Prasher, Ravi; Phelan, Patrick E.

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2014.07.007

Cited by 77 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…To enhance the thermocell performance (e.g., higher thermoelectric coefficient and larger electrical conductivity) various improvements are made through electrode materials, redox-couples, and electrolyte types, as well as the natural convection of liquids and the diffusion of dissolved ionic species. 8,10,11,12,13 So far, the highest power output reaching over 10 W m À2 has been reported very recently by Zhang et al 14 using a highly concentrated ferri-/ferrocyanide electrolyte.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Can charged colloidal particles increase the thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency?

Salez

Huang

Rietjens

et al. 2017

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

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a Currently, liquid thermocells are receiving increasing attention as an inexpensive alternative to conventional solid-state thermoelectrics for low-grade waste heat recovery applications. Here we present a novel path to increase the Seebeck coefficient of liquid thermoelectric materials using charged colloidal suspensions; namely, ionically stabilized magnetic nanoparticles (ferrofluids) dispersed in aqueous potassium ferro-/ferricyanide electrolytes. The dependency of thermoelectric potential on experimental parameters such as nanoparticle concentration and types of solute ions (lithium citrate and tetrabutylammonium citrate) is examined to reveal the relative contributions from the thermogalvanic potential of redox couples and the entropy of transfer of nanoparticles and ions. The results show that under specific ionic conditions, the inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles can lead to an enhancement of the ferrofluid's initial Seebeck coefficient by 15% (at a nanoparticle volume fraction of B1%). Based on these observations, some practical directions are given on which ionic and colloidal parameters to adjust for improving the Seebeck coefficients of liquid thermoelectric materials.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Can charged colloidal particles increase the thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency?

Salez

Huang

Rietjens

et al. 2017

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

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“…Thus the ions can move more easily through the electrolyte. The following graph illustrates this behavior but also shows, as in other studies (Gunawan et al, 2014), that there is an upper bound at which increasing the electrolyte concentration will not yield a better performance. Figure 9.…”

Section: E Internal Resistance As a Factor For Cell Performancesupporting

confidence: 71%

“…This study showed that larger electrode separation will lead to better performance and higher maximum power. It is suspected that the linear relationship found for the electrode separation and increase in power production holds at all times due to aid of natural convection (Gunawan et al, 2014). Further testing with larger electrode separations would be necessary to find if this hypothesis is correct.…”

Section: Recommendationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance analysis of a Copper II Sulfate Pentahydrate based thermogalvanic cell.

Krebs¹

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Low grade heat recovery systems are more relevant today due to the rising costs in energy and transition to non-fossil fuel energy sources. Thermogalvanic cells show potential due to low cost and scalability. In this study the performance of a Copper II Sulfate Pentahydrate based electrolyte was evaluated. The effects of electrolyte concentration, electrode separation, and electrode surface area were studied experimentally. Conductive heat transfer within the electrolyte was simulated via SolidWorks. All experimental thermocell testing was conducted to find the maximum power production of a particular cell design. The base cell had a six inch electrode separation with two copper electrodes at each end. Temperature gradients were varied from ∆T= 10-50 ˚C for all tests. Maximum power production was measured for a 0.3M CuSO 4 5H 2 O based thermocell with six inch electrode spacing and A= 0.00244 m 2 electrode surface area at P max = 7.45 μW. The relative efficiency was calculated to η r = 0.00198%.

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“…This mirrors observations in aqueous systems where varying the electrode separation and electrode orientation to gravity can either increase or decrease power according to the precise redox couple utilised. 19 The power discharge characteristics of the systems were also investigated in the battery casing. As demonstrated in Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Substituted ferrocenes and iodine as synergistic thermoelectrochemical heat harvesting redox couples in ionic liquids

et al. 2016

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Combining ferrocene and iodine results in enhanced thermoelectrochemical (or thermogalvanic) waste heat harvesting abilities, for both the Seebeck coefficient and the overall power output. All systems displayed a mixture of ferrocene, ferrocenium, iodine and triiodide. The observed enhancement correlates with lower electron-density on the ferrocene; the synergistic improvement observed for mixtures of substituted ferrocenes and iodine is attributed to the formation of charge-transfer complexes. Combining dibutanoylferrocene and iodine resulted in the highest Seebeck coefficient of 1.67 mV K(-1).

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The amplifying effect of natural convection on power generation of thermogalvanic cells

Cited by 77 publications

References 33 publications

Can charged colloidal particles increase the thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency?

Can charged colloidal particles increase the thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency?

Performance analysis of a Copper II Sulfate Pentahydrate based thermogalvanic cell.

Substituted ferrocenes and iodine as synergistic thermoelectrochemical heat harvesting redox couples in ionic liquids

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