Universal Measurement Protocol and Cell Designs for Liquid-Based Active Cooling by the Electrochemical Peltier Effect

Abstract

Electrochemical Peltier (ECP) effect is an emerging cooling technology, capable of active transfer of heat via entropy change of redox reaction. However, the temperature drop (ΔT) producible from the ECP effect is too small for practical use and its limiting factor remains elusive. In this work, a universal measurement protocol using an alternating square-wave current is proposed, which effectively distinguishes the ECP effect from Joule heating and provides an accurate and reliable assessment of the experimental results. A general expression for the temperature drop at the steady state (ΔT_SS) generated from the ECP effect is derived, which is further validated by its agreement with the experimental results. The ΔT_SS increases with increasing interelectrode distance, and the largest value of 0.55 K is achieved. The measurement protocol and theoretical model presented in this study have a high level of generality and are universally applicable to other ECP devices.