M Mohammadreza Gaeini

Phase Change Materials and Thermochemical Materials for Large-Scale Energy Storage

Replacing the use of fossil fuels by renewables is of paramount importance not so much because of declining reserves (fossil fuel reserves are estimated abundant for at least over a century) but because of increasing CO\(_2\) emissions which cause irreversible climate changes. To overcome the mismatch between supply and demand of solar heat and electricity, smart combinations of heat pumps and heat storage are currently investigated. A reliable method for heat storage is to use thermochemical (TCM) and phase change materials (PCM). These materials should be tested for energy density, temperature range, corrosion, toxicity, (dis)charge time and longevity. A prototype TCM reactor is built and tested for hot water generation. Using zeolite 13X as TCM, it is shown that tap water temperatures of 45 \(^\circ \mathrm{C}\) can be obtained. Using optical microscopy, the hydration and dehydration process of TCM material can be observed, as well as the phase transitions of PCMs. It is also argued that computational molecular modelling methods provide a powerful tool for both TCM and PCM material synthesis.