Ultrastrong, flexible thermogalvanic armor with a Carnot-relative efficiency over 8%
Jinpei Wang, Yuxin Song, Fanfei Yu, Yijun Zeng, Chenyang Wu, Xuezhi Qin, Liang Peng, Yitan Li, Yongsen Zhou, Ran Tao, Hangchen Liu, Hong‐Hu Zhu, Ming Sun, Wanghuai Xu, Chao Zhang, Zuankai Wang
Abstract
Body heat, a clean and ubiquitous energy source, is promising as a renewable resource to supply wearable electronics. Emerging tough thermogalvanic device could be a sustainable platform to convert body heat energy into electricity for powering wearable electronics if its Carnot-relative efficiency (ηr) reaches ~5%. However, maximizing both the ηr and mechanical strength of the device are mutually exclusive. Here, we develop a rational strategy to construct a flexible thermogalvanic armor (FTGA) with a ηr over 8% near room temperature, yet preserving mechanical robustness. The key to our design lies in simultaneously realizing the thermosensitive-crystallization and salting-out effect in the elaborately designed ion-transport highway to boost ηr and improve mechanical strength. The FTGA achieves an ultrahigh ηr of 8.53%, coupling with impressive mechanical toughness of 70.65 MJ m−3 and substantial elongation (~900%) together. Our strategy holds sustainable potential for harvesting body heat and powering wearable electronics without recharging. Flexible thermogalvanic device provides a sustainable platform for body heat harvesting, but its performance is limited by low energy conversion efficiency and poor mechanical strength. The authors report a flexible thermogalvanic armor with a Carnot-relative efficiency of 8.53% and strong mechanical toughness.