Stable salt hydrate-based thermal energy storage materials

Li, Yuzhan; Kumar, Navin; Hirschey, Jason; Akamo, Damilola O.; Li, Kai; Turnaoglu, Tugba; Goswami, Monojoy; Rios, Orlando; LaClair, Tim J.; Graham, Samuel; Gluesenkamp, Kyle R.

doi:10.1016/j.compositesb.2022.109621

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…However, a thermal battery (system) will always have a higher cost than the cost of the storage material alone, due to the existence of heat exchangers, insulation, and other system components. To date, much of the thermal storage literature discusses storage material cost, [35][36][37] but few present a comprehensive analysis of system cost. The works that do focus on system cost do not often analyze the optimal geometry to minimize cost, nor do they discuss how the storage material properties affect the optimal geometry and impact cost.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal battery cost scaling analysis: minimizing the cost per kW h

Kocher,

Woods,

Odukomaiya

et al. 2024

Energy Environ. Sci.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal battery cost scaling analysis: minimizing the cost per kW h

Kocher,

Woods,

Odukomaiya

et al. 2024

Energy Environ. Sci.

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“…Encapsulation of the PCMs is another proposed method to prevent phase separation. ,, However, the complexity and high cost of material preparation makes the approach less desirable . In a new development, Li et al reported a novel approach for the stabilization of SSD using polyelectrolyte. This was demonstrated using dextran sodium sulfate (DSS), a sulfonated polyelectrolyte that significantly improved the thermal storage capacity of the SSD over 150 cycles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This could be due to an electrostatic interaction between the anhydrous salt particles and the DSS polyanion, which reduces the settling rate of sodium sulfate particles and maintains their suspension in solution. Also, DSS polyanions acted as a barrier, preventing undissolved anhydrous particles from aggregating, and settling rapidly . Therefore, polyelectrolyte-based materials are promising approaches for preventing phase separation in PCMs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale Stabilization Mechanism of Sodium Sulfate Decahydrate at Polyelectrolyte Interfaces

Akamo,

Cladek,

Goswami

et al. 2024

ACS Omega

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Sodium sulfate decahydrate (SSD) is a low-cost phase-change material (PCM) for thermal energy storage applications that offers substantial melting enthalpy and a suitable temperature range for near-ambient applications. However, SSD's consistent phase separation with decreased melting enthalpy over repeated thermal cycles limits its application as a PCM. Sulfonated polyelectrolytes, such as dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), have shown great effectiveness in preventing phase separation in SSD. However, there is limited understanding of the stabilization mechanism of SSD by DSS at the atomic length and time scales. In this work, we investigate SSD stabilization via DSS using neutron scattering and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Neutron scattering and pair distribution function analysis revealed the structural evolution of the PCM samples below and above the phase change temperatures. MD simulations revealed that water from the hydrate structure migrates from the hydrate crystal to the SSD−DSS interfacial region upon melting. The water is stabilized at this interface by aggregation around the hydrophilic sulfonic acid groups attached to the backbone of the polyelectrolyte. This architecture retains water near the dehydrated sodium sulfate, preventing phase separation and, consequently, stabilizing SSD rehydration. This work provides atomistic insight into selecting and designing stable and high-performance PCMs for heating and cooling applications in building technologies.

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“…Moreover, polymer thickeners do not provide shape stabilization or prevent leakage of molten PCMs (Figure S1). − In contrast, covalently crosslinked polymer gels, which also often require large polymer amounts (5%–60% by weight), provide shape stabilization (Figure S1). − However, the permanent nature of the crosslinks renders these materials irreversible, making filling and removal from thermal energy storage modules impossible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Polymer Salogels for Reversible Entrapment of Salt-Hydrate-Based Thermal Energy Storage Materials

Rajagopalan,

Haney,

Shamberger

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Eng. Mater.

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One of the challenges preventing wide use of inorganic salt hydrate phase change materials (PCMs) is their low viscosity above their melting point, leading to leakage, phase segregation, and separation from heat exchanger surfaces in thermal management applications. The development of a broad strategy for using polymers that provide tunable, temperaturereversible shape stabilization of a variety of salt hydrates by using the lowest possible polymer concentrations is hindered by differences in solubility and gelation behavior of polymers with change in the type of ion. This work addressed the challenge of creating robust, temperature-responsive shape-stabilizing polymer gels (i.e., salogels) using a low cost PCM, calcium chloride hexahydrate (CaCl 2 •6H 2 O, CCH). Due to the extremely high (9 M) concentration of chloride ions and the tendency to salting-out polymer chains, the previous strategy of using single-polymer salogels was not successful. Thus, this work introduced a strategy of using two polymers, poly(vinyl alcohol) and ultrahigh molecular weight polyacrylamide (PVA and PAAm, respectively), along with borax as a cross-linker to achieve temperature-reversible, shape-stable salogels. This system resulted in robust salogels whose gel-to-sol transition temperature (T gel ) was tunable within an applicationrelevant range of gelation temperature (30−80 °C). This behavior was enabled by a synergistic combination of dynamic covalent cross-links between PVA units and entanglements of PAAm chains which were combined into a single hybrid network. The hybrid salogels had <5 wt % polymer content, maintaining ∼95% of the heat of fusion of the pure PCM. Importantly, the noncovalent nature of gelation supported thermo-reversibility of gelation, shape stability, and retention of thermal properties over 50 melting/ crystallization cycles.

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Stable salt hydrate-based thermal energy storage materials

Cited by 26 publications

References 35 publications

Thermal battery cost scaling analysis: minimizing the cost per kW h

Thermal battery cost scaling analysis: minimizing the cost per kW h

Nanoscale Stabilization Mechanism of Sodium Sulfate Decahydrate at Polyelectrolyte Interfaces

Hybrid Polymer Salogels for Reversible Entrapment of Salt-Hydrate-Based Thermal Energy Storage Materials

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