Stabilization of low-cost phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications

Damilola O. Akamo; Navin Kumar; Yuzhan Li; Collin Pekol; Kai Li; Monojoy Goswami; Jason Hirschey; Tim J. LaClair; David J. Keffer; Orlando Rios; Kyle R. Gluesenkamp

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107175

Stabilization of low-cost phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications

Damilola O. Akamo, Navin Kumar, Yuzhan Li, Collin Pekol, Kai Li, Monojoy Goswami, Jason Hirschey, Tim J. LaClair, David J. Keffer, Orlando Rios, Kyle R. Gluesenkamp

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sodium sulfate decahydrate (Na₂SO₄.10H₂O, SSD), a low-cost phase change material (PCM), can store thermal energy. However, phase separation and unstable energy storage capacity (ESC) limit its use. To address these concerns, eight polymer additives—sodium polyacrylate (SPA), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Fumed silica (SiO₂), potassium polyacrylate (PPA), cellulose nanofiber (CNF), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)—were used to explore several stabilization mechanisms. The ESC of PCMs deteriorated when thickeners, SPA, PPA, and CNF, were added. DSS-modified PCMs exhibited greater stability up to 150 cycles. Rheology measurements indicated that DSS did not impact SSD viscosity significantly during stabilization. Dynamic light scattering showed that DSS reduces SSD particle size and electrostatically suspends salt particles in a stable homogeneous solution, avoiding phase separation. This study proposes a promising method to improve the thermal stability of salt hydrate PCMs by utilizing polyelectrolyte-salt hydrate mixture for thermal energy storage applications.

Original language	English
Article number	107175
Journal	iScience
Volume	26
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107175
State	Published - Jul 21 2023

Funding

This work was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Sven Mumme, Technology Manager – Building Envelope, U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office. This work was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Sven Mumme, Technology Manager – Building Envelope, U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). Conceptualization, D.O.A. N.K. Y.L. K.R.G, and O.R.; Methodology, D.O.A. C.P. and O.R.; Investigation, D.O.A. C.P. and K.L.; Writing – Original Draft, D.O.A; Writing – Review & Editing, Y.L. C.P. K.L. J.H. T.J.L, M.G. D.J.K. K.R.G, and O.R.; Funding Acquisition, T.J.L, K.R.G. and O.R.; Resources, C.P. K.L. and J.H.; Supervision, D.J.K. K.R.G. and O.R.; Project Administration, K.R.G. and O.R. A patent related to this work is disclosed and referenced below:, Li, Yuzhan, Kyle R Gluesenkamp, Monojoy Goswami, Navin Kumar, Timothy J LaClair, Orlando Rios. Stable salt hydrate-based thermal energy storage materials. US Patent 11,560,503 granted January 24, 2023. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210340423A1/en. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

Energy materials
Materials application
Materials science
Phase transformation

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10.1016/j.isci.2023.107175

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title = "Stabilization of low-cost phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications",

abstract = "Sodium sulfate decahydrate (Na2SO4.10H2O, SSD), a low-cost phase change material (PCM), can store thermal energy. However, phase separation and unstable energy storage capacity (ESC) limit its use. To address these concerns, eight polymer additives—sodium polyacrylate (SPA), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Fumed silica (SiO2), potassium polyacrylate (PPA), cellulose nanofiber (CNF), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)—were used to explore several stabilization mechanisms. The ESC of PCMs deteriorated when thickeners, SPA, PPA, and CNF, were added. DSS-modified PCMs exhibited greater stability up to 150 cycles. Rheology measurements indicated that DSS did not impact SSD viscosity significantly during stabilization. Dynamic light scattering showed that DSS reduces SSD particle size and electrostatically suspends salt particles in a stable homogeneous solution, avoiding phase separation. This study proposes a promising method to improve the thermal stability of salt hydrate PCMs by utilizing polyelectrolyte-salt hydrate mixture for thermal energy storage applications.",

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AU - Li, Kai

AU - Goswami, Monojoy

AU - Hirschey, Jason

AU - LaClair, Tim J.

AU - Keffer, David J.

AU - Rios, Orlando

AU - Gluesenkamp, Kyle R.

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N2 - Sodium sulfate decahydrate (Na2SO4.10H2O, SSD), a low-cost phase change material (PCM), can store thermal energy. However, phase separation and unstable energy storage capacity (ESC) limit its use. To address these concerns, eight polymer additives—sodium polyacrylate (SPA), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Fumed silica (SiO2), potassium polyacrylate (PPA), cellulose nanofiber (CNF), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)—were used to explore several stabilization mechanisms. The ESC of PCMs deteriorated when thickeners, SPA, PPA, and CNF, were added. DSS-modified PCMs exhibited greater stability up to 150 cycles. Rheology measurements indicated that DSS did not impact SSD viscosity significantly during stabilization. Dynamic light scattering showed that DSS reduces SSD particle size and electrostatically suspends salt particles in a stable homogeneous solution, avoiding phase separation. This study proposes a promising method to improve the thermal stability of salt hydrate PCMs by utilizing polyelectrolyte-salt hydrate mixture for thermal energy storage applications.

AB - Sodium sulfate decahydrate (Na2SO4.10H2O, SSD), a low-cost phase change material (PCM), can store thermal energy. However, phase separation and unstable energy storage capacity (ESC) limit its use. To address these concerns, eight polymer additives—sodium polyacrylate (SPA), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Fumed silica (SiO2), potassium polyacrylate (PPA), cellulose nanofiber (CNF), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)—were used to explore several stabilization mechanisms. The ESC of PCMs deteriorated when thickeners, SPA, PPA, and CNF, were added. DSS-modified PCMs exhibited greater stability up to 150 cycles. Rheology measurements indicated that DSS did not impact SSD viscosity significantly during stabilization. Dynamic light scattering showed that DSS reduces SSD particle size and electrostatically suspends salt particles in a stable homogeneous solution, avoiding phase separation. This study proposes a promising method to improve the thermal stability of salt hydrate PCMs by utilizing polyelectrolyte-salt hydrate mixture for thermal energy storage applications.

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KW - Materials science

KW - Phase transformation

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Stabilization of low-cost phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications

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