Crystallisation studies of sodium acetate trihydrate – suppression of incongruent melting and sub-cooling to produce a reliable, high-performance phase-change material

Abstract

Polymer additives reliably prevent incongruent melting of sodium acetate trihydrate when temperature-cycled over multiple thousands of melting and freezing cycles.

Morphology control of laser-induced dandelion-like crystals of sodium acetate through the addition of acidic polymers

“…Here we investigate the effect of acidic polymers on crystals of anhydrous sodium acetate (CH 3 COONa). On the basis of previous work (Oliver, 2014;Sunamp, 2014;Oliver et al, 2021;Liu, 2017), we expected that its crystalline structure and size could be modified by acidic polymers. This modification will be of great value to the pharmaceutical industry as different morphologies exhibit different physical and chemical properties, including dissolution rate and solubility, which in turn affect the stability and bioavailability of pharmaceutical materials (Chen et al, 2011;Klapwijk et al, 2016).…”

“…Although investment on instruments, energy consumption and running costs for laserinduced nucleation are significantly higher than those for seeding a batch of sodium acetate at a temperature above 331 K, the laser process is a simple and environmentally friendly approach to trigger enhancement of crystal nucleation through its temporal-spatial control on nucleation (Ikni et al, 2014). Recently, research on modifying the growth of CH 3 COONa through the addition of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA) was reported by Oliver and co-workers (Oliver, 2014;Sunamp, 2014;Oliver et al, 2021;Liu, 2017). Subsequently, research on the combination of PMA with laser-induced nucleation was launched by Oliver et al (2021).…”

“…Recently, research on modifying the growth of CH 3 COONa through the addition of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA) was reported by Oliver and co-workers (Oliver, 2014;Sunamp, 2014;Oliver et al, 2021;Liu, 2017). Subsequently, research on the combination of PMA with laser-induced nucleation was launched by Oliver et al (2021). However, only PMA was studied for modifying the growth of sodium acetate in these reports, and the previous work on the combination with laser-induced nucleation was quite simple and did not report much detail on the effect of PMA on sodium acetate.…”

The Potential Environmental and Social Influence of the Inorganic Salt Hydrates Used as a Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage in Solar Installations

“…Li et al [39] and Shein et al [40] consider sodium sulfate decahydrate to be a suitable candidate for heat storage applications due to its high latent heat and desirable phase transition temperature, but it suffers from undercooling and phase separation. Similar limitations also exist with sodium acetate trihydrate (SAT) [9,24,41]. However, in the case of SAT, the high degree of supercooling and the high energy storage density make it an ideal flexible material for storing heat with almost no heat loss in both the short and long term, which provides enormous benefits for the energy system [42].…”

“…The lack of supercooling means that latent heat can be released as soon as the temperature of the salt hydrate reaches its melting point, which is important for the short-term heat storage. Undercooling can be reduced by adding a nucleating agent [23,24,42]. Stable supercooling means that latent heat can be kept at a room temperature for long periods, which is beneficial for the long-term heat storage [42].…”