Abstract
Energy consumption levels show a never‐ending increase since the industrial era. Toward sustainability objectives, it is of outstanding importance to reduce the amount of wasted energy, that typically comes as waste heat, as a consequence of nonunitary efficiency of any thermodynamic process. Herein, a breakthrough in conversion of low enthalpy heat into electricity is presented, based on a liquid state device that operates through multiphysics effects: thermomagnetic advection, triboelectricity, pyroelectricity, and Ludwig–Sorét effect. A synergistic interaction between ferroelectric surfaces and a complex composition colloidal suspension is evidenced, owing to an enhancement of the generated potential of 365% in comparison with pyroelectric effect and 267% in comparison with triboelectric effect, while the current extracted is 54% higher than the pyroelectric effect only and the power extracted by induction remains substantially unperturbed. The impact of this technology on society is also analyzed, on the basis of a set of practical applications, by means of a computational analysis.
Highlights
Toward sustainability objectives, it is of outstanding importance to reduce the amount of wasted energy, that typically comes as waste heat, as a consequence of nonunitary efficiency of any thermodynamic process
Each electrode can be coupled with one of the functional components of the colloid, showing pyroelectric, magnetic, and triboelectric properties, respectively: 1) barium titanate (BT) 300 nm nanoparticles (NPs); 2) a ferrofluid (FF) based on magnetite 10 nm NPs capped with oleic acid; and 3) titania (T) 50 nm NPs
By comparing the multiphysics setup potential accumulated on the capacitive electrode with a setup conceived to exploit triboelectricity with a colloid based on T only, we can see at room temperature that the maximum potential extracted is 267% higher
Summary
The test bed is a linear apparatus (Figure 1a), where a peristaltic pump is used to control the colloid velocity, mimicking the effects of Rayleigh–Bénard,[9] or magneto-Rayleigh–Bénard convection and letting us to associate with local velocity changes in the ideal energy recovery.[10,11] To do that, the colloid is stored in a becher where a magnetic stirrer maintains its compositional and thermal homogeneity, while a heating plate provides the desired thermal power (Figure 1a) It is pumped inside a fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) pipe, a particular material whose molecular structure is suitable to guarantee a proper triboelectrification via surface shear, compatibly with the nanoparticles of choice.[6] Three extraction systems are installed: 1) a titanium-resistive electrode, placed directly in contact with the colloid collecting charges by mechanical drag; 2) an oxygen-free copper (OFC) solenoid wound around the pipe, collecting charges by induction; and 3) an aluminum capacitive electrode placed externally, in contact with the pipe, collecting charges by dielectric polarization. This circuital analogue holds even when the external velocity of the fluid is zero: spatial temperature gradients are able to initiate density gradients by diffusion, which produce an electromotive force on the inner electrode (see Supporting Information)
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