Indian researchers have developed a cost-effective and thermally efficient energy storage material that can significantly improve the performance of thermal batteries used in concentrated solar power plants and industrial waste heat recovery systems.
The development offers a compact and low cost thermal energy storage (TES) solution, paving the way for next‑generation materials with superior performance, according to information shared by the Ministry of Science and Technology on Friday.
Effective TES systems are essential for efficient utilisation of concentrated solar power (CSP) and capturing industrial waste heat.
Scientists are trying to develop materials with enhanced specific heat capacity, better thermal conductivity and a wider operating temperature range to improve the performance of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems, the ministry said.
Researchers at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), developed a scalable process to produce spinel nano-composite phase change material (PCM) with an unprecedented increase in specific heat capacity for thermal energy storage applications.
Spinel, according to technical literature, is a rare, hard mineral composed of magnesium aluminium oxide that is highly prized, while PCM is a substance that absorbs, stores and releases large amounts of energy in the form of latent heat when transiting from one phase to another such as from solid to liquid.
“These nano-composite PCMs hold significant promise for the future of TES systems. Their superior thermal storage capacity paves the way for developing more compact, cost-effective, high-performing TES systems,” the researchers said in their study, published in Elsevier’s Materials Today Chemistry, a peer reviewed international journal.
The process, developed by ARCI team and led by Dr Mani Karthik, employed a simple co-precipitation method to produce spinel-type metal oxide nano-particles with controlled particle size. These nano-materials exhibited excellent thermal stability and uniform dispersion, making them suitable for producing high-performance nano-composite PCM.
By adding only one per cent spinel oxide nano-particles to the PCM, the nano-composite phase change material showed a remarkable increase of 45 per cent in the specific heat capacity to store the thermal energy, m as compared to PCM without nano-composites.
When these nanoparticles are well dispersed in the PCM, they significantly improve its thermal properties by increasing the specific surface area. As a result, the material can store more thermal energy per unit mass, improving energy storage efficiency. This improvement results in smaller storage tanks with reduced construction materials, which significantly lowers both capital and operational costs.
“The remarkable thermal storage potential of spinel-PCM nano-composites holds transformative promise for TES systems. Requiring less material for equivalent storage, these nano-composites can significantly reduce the size and footprint of storage tanks, a critical cost factor throughout a TES system’s lifecycle. These findings paving the way for a new generation of compact, cost-effective, and high-performance systems,” the researchers said.
