Abstract
Industrial waste steam is one of the major sources of global energy losses. Therefore, the collection and conversion of waste steam energy into electricity have aroused great interest. Here, a "two-in-one" strategy is reported that combines thermoelectric and moist-electric generation mechanisms for a highly efficient flexible moist-thermoelectric generator (MTEG). The spontaneous adsorption of water molecules and heat in the polyelectrolyte membrane induces the fast dissociation and diffusion of Na(+) and H(+) , resulting in the high electricity generation. Thus, the assembled flexible MTEG generates power with a high open-circuit voltage (V(oc) ) of 1.81 V (effective area = 1cm(2) ) and a power density of up to 4.75±0.4 µW cm(-2) . With efficient integration, a 12-unit MTEG can produce a V(oc) of 15.97 V, which is superior to most known TEGs and MEGs. The integrated and flexible MTEGs reported herein provide new insights for harvesting energy from industrial waste steam.