Using waste heat from electrical stuff to produce energy is something that has crossed my mind, since the heat generated from electricity is technically 100% efficient, so even if you only get 10% efficiency out of the heat->electricity it's still something. But I don't think it would be viable in a small scale setup like a phone.
I'm curious though, anyone know if this has been done in large scale? Like say using waste heat from factory motors to boil water and then spin a turbine and use that power for something else in the factory. I imagine that it's not worth the effort though?
That said, you will never get more power out of it than you put into it, so you'd never be able to charge a battery this way. You are better off designing a case that has a few solar cells on the back and when you place it face down it would pulse charge. I say pulse charge, because solar cells of that size would not really be enough to actually continuously charge, but it could perhaps fill a small capacitor bank to 5v, then release that energy into the charge port. Question is, would it be enough to keep up with the idle discharge rate of the phone, let alone charge it in a semi reasonable time. Ex: give it 10% charge in an hour. It would also require placing your phone in direct sun light.
Maybe a solar power bank would be a better idea, that way you can design it so it's bigger than a phone and has some kind of retractable/foldable solar panel that also acts as a shade for the whole unit and maybe even a place to put your phone under it.
That said, if you use a Note 7, you should be able to use it to boil water and spin a small steam turbine and generate enough power to make another Note 7 explode.
Speaking of solar, this is a more realistic size if you want some usable solar for charging stuff:
This will charge phone at a normal rate (ex: if it was plugged in the wall) while charging other stuff like drone battery etc. It's not exactly portable like a phone case or power bank though.
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