The team lead by Prof. Zhou Yang from the Southeast University has developed a bio-inspired thermoelectric cement with remarkable Seebeck coefficient via employing interfacial selective immobilization.
Published in Science Bulletin, the researchers fabricated a cement-hydrogel composite which process a multilayered structure inspired by plant stems. The as-prepared composite achieves an impressive Seebeck coefficient of −40.5 mV/K and a figure of merit (ZT) of 6.6×10 −2 , which surpass those of previously reported cementitious thermoelectric materials by ten times and six times, respectively.
The core strategy used in the composite is the interfacial selective ion immobilization. While hydrogel layers provide ion diffusion highways for OH − ions, cement-hydrogel interfaces establish strong coordination bonds with Ca 2+ ions and weaker interactions with OH − ions, enabling selective immobilization, which amplifies the diffusion rate disparity between Ca 2+ and OH − .
Due to engineered multilayer structure, the composite also demonstrates superior mechanical strength and intrinsic energy storage potential. Through integrating energy harvesting and storage, the composite can enable a continuous power supply for electronic devices such as sensors and wireless communication devices embedded in smart buildings, intelligent pavements, etc.
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province.
Science Bulletin
Experimental study