Application of lamellar nickel hydroxide membrane as a tunable platform for ionic thermoelectric studies

The recent trend in thermoelectric literature suggests that ionic thermoelectric (i-TE) materials are ideal for directly converting low-grade waste heat into electricity. Here, we developed a unique platform for i-TE studies by stacking two-dimensional sheets of β-Ni(OH)2 prepared by a bottom-up method. The lamellar membrane of β-Ni(OH)2 (Ni-M) itself does not display significant thermovoltages, but when doped with mobile anion-generating species (like aminopropyl functionalized magnesium phyllosilicate or organic halide salts), it exhibits significant negative Seebeck coefficient (up to -13.7 ± 0.2 mV K-1). Similarly, upon doping with cation-generating species like poly(4-styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS), it displays positive Seebeck coefficient values (up to +12 ± 1.9 mV K-1). The positive and negative i-TE materials prepared by doping Ni-M are assembled into ionic thermopiles capable of generating thermovoltages up to 1 V, at ΔT = 12 K. The Ni-M-based nanofluidic systems demonstrated an additional path of electricity harvesting by connecting colder zones of the positive and negative i-TE materials with other ion conducting membranes. In contrast to organic polymer-based i-TE systems, the Ni-M based system exhibited consistent performance despite being exposed to high temperatures (∼200 °C, 5 minutes).