Harnessing thermal waste with a poling-free molecular pyroelectric zinc(ii) complex

Abstract

Transforming abundant thermal energy into electrical energy is an essential and sustainable solution to meet the rapidly growing global energy demand. In this communication, we report an electrical poling-free molecular complex [Zn(bpy)₃](ClO₄)₂·H₂O (1) with an appreciable pyroelectric coefficient value of 25 μC m⁻² K⁻¹. This allowed us to harvest waste heat energy using a pyroelectric nanogenerator (PyG) device of 1, a relatively unexplored area for molecular complexes.