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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Thermal Scanning Conductometry TSC as a General Method for Studying and Controlling the Phase Behavior of Conductive Physical Gels
Published on: January 23, 2018
Giant thermopower of ionic gelatin near room temperature
Cheng-Gong Han1,2, Xin Qian3, Qikai Li1,4
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
Abstract:
Harvesting heat from the environment into electricity has the potential to power Internet-of-things (IoT) sensors, freeing them from cables or batteries and thus making them especially useful for wearable devices. We demonstrate a giant positive thermopower of 17.0 millivolts per degree Kelvin in a flexible, quasi-solid-state, ionic thermoelectric material using synergistic thermodiffusion and thermogalvanic effects. The ionic thermoelectric material is a gelatin matrix modulated with ion providers (KCl, NaCl, and KNO3) for thermodiffusion effect and a redox couple [Fe(CN)6 4-/Fe(CN)6 3-] for thermogalvanic effect. A proof-of-concept wearable device consisting of 25 unipolar elements generated more than 2 volts and a peak power of 5 microwatts using body heat. This ionic gelatin shows promise for environmental heat-to-electric energy conversion using ions as energy carriers.
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