Biomass-Derived Sustainable Electrode Material for Low-Grade Heat Harvesting

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-04, Vol.13 (9), p.1488
• Main Authors: Park, Jonghak, Kim, Taewoo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Analysis; Biomass; Carbon; Carbonization; Chemical composition; Chemical oxygen demand; Chemical synthesis; Climate change; Electrochemical cells; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Electrodes, Carbon; Electrolytes; Energy; Energy demand; Energy harvesting; Energy sources; Fossil fuels; Global warming; Heat; Heat sources; Identification and classification; low-grade heat; Maximum power density; Methods; Performance enhancement; Potassium; Precursors; Properties; Radiation; Redox potential; Spectrum analysis; Stainless steel; Sustainability; Sustainable energy; Temperature; Temperature dependence; Temperature gradients; Thermal energy; thermo-electrochemical cell; thermocell; thermogalvanic cell; Waste heat; Weather
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13091488

The ever-increasing energy demand and global warming caused by fossil fuels push for the exploration of sustainable and eco-friendly energy sources. Waste thermal energy has been considered as one of the promising candidates for sustainable power generation as it is abundantly available everywhere in our daily lives. Recently, thermo-electrochemical cells based on the temperature-dependent redox potential have been intensely studied for efficiently harnessing low-grade waste heat. Despite considerable progress in improving thermocell performance, no attempt was made to develop electrode materials from renewable precursors. In this work, we report the synthesis of a porous carbon electrode from mandarin peel waste through carbonization and activation processes. The influence of carbonization temperature and activating agent/carbon precursor ratio on the performance of thermocell was studied to optimize the microstructure and elemental composition of electrode materials. Due to its well-developed pore structure and nitrogen doping, the mandarin peel-derived electrodes carbonized at 800 °C delivered the maximum power density. The areal power density ( ) of 193.4 mW m and (Δ ) of 0.236 mW m K were achieved at Δ of 28.6 K. However, KOH-activated electrodes showed no performance enhancement regardless of activating agent/carbon precursor ratio. The electrode material developed here worked well under different temperature differences, proving its feasibility in harvesting electrical energy from various types of waste heat sources.