Ionic Thermoelectric Figure of Merit for Charging of Supercapacitors

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials enable conversion of heat to electrical energy. The performance of electronic thermoelectric materials is typically evaluated using a figure of merit ZT = σα 2 T /λ, where σ is the conductivity, α is the so‐called Seebeck coefficient, and λ is the thermal conductivity. However, it has been unclear how to best evaluate the performance of ionic thermoelectric materials, like ionic solids and electrolytes. These systems cannot be directly used in a traditional thermoelectric generator, because they are based on ions that cannot pass the interface between the thermoelectric material and external metal electrodes. Instead, energy can be harvested from the ionic thermoelectric effect by charging a supercapacitor. In this study, the authors investigate the ionic thermoelectric properties at varied relative humidity for the polyelectrolyte polystyrene sulfonate sodium and correlate these properties with the charging efficiency when used in an ionic thermoelectric supercapacitor (ITESC). In analogy with electronic thermoelectric generators, the results show that the charging efficiency of the ITESC can be quantitatively related to the figure of merit ZT i = σiαi 2 T /λ. This means that the performance of ionic thermoelectric materials can also be compared and predicted based on the ZT , which will be highly valuable in the design of high‐performance ITESCs.