TY - JOUR
T1 - Lignin-Derived Ionic Conducting Membranes for Low-Grade Thermal Energy Harvesting
AU - Muddasar, Muhammad
AU - Nasiri, Mohammad Ali
AU - Cantarero, Andres
AU - Gómez, Clara
AU - Culebras, Mario
AU - Collins, Maurice N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2024/3/18
Y1 - 2024/3/18
N2 - Wood-based ionic conductive membranes have emerged as a new paradigm for low-grade thermal energy harvesting applications due to their unique andtailorable structures. Herein, a lignin-derivedionic conducting membrane with hierarchical aligned channels is synthesized viaa double network crosslinking approach. Their excellent thermal stability andsuperior swelling ratio allow their optimization as low-grade heat recovery technologies. Several vertically aligned nanoscaleconfinements are found in the synthesized membranes, contributing towardenhanced ionic diffusion. Among all the combinations, the membrane comprising69.2 wt.% of lignin and infiltrated with 0.5 m KOH exhibits anexceptional ionic figure of merit (ZTi) of 0.25, relatively higher ionic conductivity(51.5 mS cm‒1), lower thermal conductivity(0.195 W m‒1·K), and a remarkable ionic Seebeck coefficientof 5.71 mV K‒1 under the application of an axialtemperature gradient. A numerical model is also utilized to evaluate theveracity of experimental observations and to gain a better understanding of thefundamental mechanisms involved in attaining such values. These results displaythe potential of lignin-basedmembranes for future thermal energy harvesting applications and are a new facetin thermoelectric energy conversion which is certain to pave the way forfurther investigations on sustainable ionic conductive membranes.
AB - Wood-based ionic conductive membranes have emerged as a new paradigm for low-grade thermal energy harvesting applications due to their unique andtailorable structures. Herein, a lignin-derivedionic conducting membrane with hierarchical aligned channels is synthesized viaa double network crosslinking approach. Their excellent thermal stability andsuperior swelling ratio allow their optimization as low-grade heat recovery technologies. Several vertically aligned nanoscaleconfinements are found in the synthesized membranes, contributing towardenhanced ionic diffusion. Among all the combinations, the membrane comprising69.2 wt.% of lignin and infiltrated with 0.5 m KOH exhibits anexceptional ionic figure of merit (ZTi) of 0.25, relatively higher ionic conductivity(51.5 mS cm‒1), lower thermal conductivity(0.195 W m‒1·K), and a remarkable ionic Seebeck coefficientof 5.71 mV K‒1 under the application of an axialtemperature gradient. A numerical model is also utilized to evaluate theveracity of experimental observations and to gain a better understanding of thefundamental mechanisms involved in attaining such values. These results displaythe potential of lignin-basedmembranes for future thermal energy harvesting applications and are a new facetin thermoelectric energy conversion which is certain to pave the way forfurther investigations on sustainable ionic conductive membranes.
KW - Soret effect
KW - heat-to-electricity conversion
KW - ionic conductive membranes
KW - ionic thermoelectric membranes
KW - lignin
KW - lignin membranes
KW - sustainable materials
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179675348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/adfm.202306427
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202306427
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85179675348
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 34
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 12
M1 - 2306427
ER -