APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:
- Long-term energy storage
- Domestic heating
BENEFITS:
- High cycling stability
- High volumetric energy density
- Easily scalable manufacturing process
BACKGROUND:
- Long-term energy storage is critical to ensure renewable energy supply can be stored for when it is needed, but a storage medium with a very long lifetime and little energy loss over time is currently a challenge. Thermochemical energy storage provides high energy density and little heat loss over time even for an uninsulated system, presenting an effective solution to the problem of surplus energy storage.
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW:
Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a material composition and manufacturing process for a thermochemical energy storage system that exhibits high volumetric energy density, phenomenal capacity retention, and an easily scalable manufacturing process. The dry mixing process used to make this composite material reduces the energy consumption for production and is easier to scale up than alternative mixing methods. Additionally, because there are no solvents required for the dry mixing method, this composite does not suffer from the agglomeration problems that lead to capacity degradation and cycling instability in other thermochemical energy storage systems. Different binder additives can be used in the creation of the composite which result in varying energy density and capacity retention, but all tested compositions have been shown to have a high energy density and to retain that capacity for hundreds of cycles.
DEVELOPMENT STAGE: Performance validated at laboratory scale
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS:
- Sumanjeet Kaur
- Ravi Prasher
- Andrew Martin
- Drew Lilley
- Alondra Perez
STATUS: Patent pending.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eem2.12544
OPPORTUNITIES: Available for licensing or collaborative research.