Shen, M., Liu, K., Zhang, G., Li, Q., Zhang, G., Zhang, Q., Zhang, H., Jiang, S., Chen, Y., & Yao, K. (2023). Thermoelectric coupling effect in BNT-BZT-xGaN pyroelectric ceramics for low-grade temperature-driven energy harvesting. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43692-3
Abstract:
Pyroelectric energy harvesting has received increasing attention due to its ability to convert low-grade waste heat into electricity. However, the low output energy density driven by low-grade temperature limits its practical applications. Here, we show a high-performance hybrid BNT-BZT-xGaN thermal energy harvesting system with environmentally friendly lead-free BNT-BZT pyroelectric matrix and high thermal conductivity GaN as dopant. The theoretical analysis of BNT-BZT and BNT-BZT-xGaN with x = 0.1 wt% suggests that the introduction of GaN facilitates the resonance vibration between Ga and Ti, O atoms, which not only contributes to the enhancement of the lattice heat conduction, but also improves the vibration of TiO6 octahedra, resulting in simultaneous improvement of thermal conductivity and pyroelectric coefficient. Therefore, a thermoelectric coupling enhanced energy harvesting density of 80 μJ cm−3 has been achieved in BNT-BZT-xGaN ceramics with x = 0.1 wt% driven by a temperature variation of 2 oC, at the optical load resistance of 600 MΩ.
License type:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Funding Info:
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52102128, 52272107), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Grant No. 2021CFB117), and the Open Project Fund of Hubei Key Laboratory of Ferro & Piezoelectric Materials and Devices (Grant No. K202010). We knowledge the Innovation Program of Wuhan-Shuguang (Grant No. 2022010801020329)
This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research - RIE2020 Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) Programmatic Fund
Grant Reference no. : A20G9b0135