Simultaneous atmospheric water production and 24-hour power generation enabled by moisture-induced energy harvesting

Abstract

Water and electricity scarcity are two global challenges, especially in arid and remote areas. Harnessing ubiquitous moisture and sunlight for water and power generation is a sustainable route to address these challenges. Herein, we report a moisture-induced energy harvesting strategy to realize efficient sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) and 24-hour thermoelectric power generation (TEPG) by synergistically utilizing moisture-induced sorption/desorption heats of SAWH, solar energy in the daytime and radiative cooling in the nighttime. Notably, the synergistic effects significantly improve all-day thermoelectric power density (~346%) and accelerate atmospheric water harvesting compared with conventional designs. We further demonstrate moisture-induced energy harvesting for a hybrid SAWH-TEPG device, exhibiting high water production of 750 g m−2, together with impressive thermoelectric power density up to 685 mW m−2 in the daytime and 21 mW m−2 in the nighttime. Our work provides a promising approach to realizing sustainable water production and power generation at anytime and anywhere.

AlN micro-honeycomb reinforced stearic acid-based phase-change composites with high thermal conductivity for solar-thermal-electric conversion

“…8(d) compares the TC and TC enhancement efficiency (TCEE) of the 44.46MH-AlN/SA composite with those of other ceramic-lled composites reported before. 3,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Furthermore, the comparison in terms of the thermal conductivity and the latent heat of the PCM composites reported before is provided in Table S4. † Note that few previous studies related to AlN-lled phase-change composites can be found, and therefore we mainly compare the TC and TCEE of the 44.46MH-AlN/SA composite with those of the BN-lled composites.…”

“…1,2 The conversion of solar energy into electric energy is usually achieved using a solid-state thermoelectric device. 3 Specically, the combination of PCMs and a thermoelectric generator to realize solar-thermal-electric energy conversion has many advantages compared to directly applying sunlight on a thermoelectric generator, such as stable energy output regardless of time-/space-discrepancy and instability of solar energy and relatively high energy conversion efficiency. 4 Organic solid-liquid PCMs have been extensively studied because of their congruent melting behavior, high latent heat, stable chemical properties and low cost.…”

Numerical Simulation on the Optimization of the Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of Hexagonal Boron Nitride/Nanofiber Composite Films

“…High-performance heat dissipation has become a substantive need for developing the miniaturization and densification of electronic devices to solve “hot spot” problems because the generated heat accumulation poses a threat to the function and reliability of electronic components. − To quickly remove excess heat from the confined space of electronic devices, it is highly required to enhance the heat dissipation along a specific direction. − …”

An Emerging Energy Technology: Self‐Uninterrupted Electricity Power Harvesting from the Sun and Cold Space

“…[9][10][11] In addition, there have been several analyses based on TEG and radiative cooler, which harvest energy from the cold space. [6,[12][13][14][15][16] More recently, several works about integrating TEG with solar absorber and radiative cooler to achieve uninterrupted power generation from theory to practice have been reported. [17][18][19][20] However, far less is understood about the underlying physics, structure design, and optimization strategies of simultaneous energy harvesting from both the sun and cold space.Here, we first systematically reviewed the basic physics and theoretical models of solar heating and radiative cooling effect and demonstrated the potential of global thermal energy harvesting and power generation.…”

“…[9][10][11] In addition, there have been several analyses based on TEG and radiative cooler, which harvest energy from the cold space. [6,[12][13][14][15][16] More recently, several works about integrating TEG with solar absorber and radiative cooler to achieve uninterrupted power generation from theory to practice have been reported. [17][18][19][20] However, far less is understood about the underlying physics, structure design, and optimization strategies of simultaneous energy harvesting from both the sun and cold space.…”