Photonic enhanced flexible photothermoelectric generator using MXene coated fullerenes modified PEDOT:PSS films for solar energy harvesting

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-06, Vol.489, p.151571, Article 151571
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuqin, Sha, Wenqi, Xiao, Ming, Fang, Yingjun, zhu, Pengyu, Wang, Zhilei, Wang, Siliang, Zeng, Wei, Zhao, Jinling, Ruan, Limin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Charge separation; Fullerenes; Half-vertical heterojunction; MXene; PEDOT:PSS; Photothermoelectric
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.151571

•Compared to PM film, with the assistant of fullerene and grade temperature strategy, the voltages have the increasement of 43.83 % and 139.04 % under irradiation of one simulated sunlight (AM 1.5G).•Under the condition of continuous exposure of simulated sunlight for 30 min, the best output voltage of the prepared PTEGs with six legs was sustainably stable at 1.8 mV and the current is 730nA.•The PTEG with excellent electrothermal effect has been successfully applied to detect whether the battery is fully charged with assistance thermal sensitive materials. Photothermoelectric conversion technology from light and heat into electricity has been proved to be an effective method and associated with photothermal and thermoelectric (TE) effects. Wherein, there are great challenges in the structural design that the cold and hot side distribution in planar structure limits the selection of materials to obtain the high output voltage. Here, the half-vertical heterojunction structure of the photothermoelectric generator (PTEG) is adopted for enhanced performance to realize effective energy utilization. The PTEG is constituted by the MXene half-coated fullerenes-modified PEDOT:PSS to obtain wide spectral response. The output voltage of the prepared PTEG can be stabilized at 2.15 mV under the irradiation of a laser wavelength 808 nm with power of 25 mW. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, with the assistant of fullerenes, the output voltage was improved by 43.83 % from 146 to 210μ V. Furthermore, the voltage can be enhanced by TE voltage increasement via temperature gradient, and the 66.19 % increment of output voltage is evaluated from 210 to 349 μV. In addition, PTEG has also excellent electrothermal effect, which was applied into detecting whether the battery is fully charged via adhering to thermal sensitive materials. By means of half-vertical heterojunction structure to the PTEG, a new choice for the PTEG is provided to make better use of sunlight.