It can be used as heat storage material for solar energy generation systems or efficient use of industrial heat waste, enabling recycling of heat energy, since the material releases the stored heat energy on demand by application of weak pressure.
Materials able to store heat incl bricks or concrete that slowly release the stored heat, and others such as water or ethylene glycol that take in heat when they transform from a solid to a liquid. However, none of these materials can store heat energy over a long period as they naturally release it slowly over time. A material that could store heat energy for a long time and release it at the exact timing desired would be a boon for the field of renewable energy.
Discovered by Prof Ohkoshi’s team at University of Tokyo Graduate School of Science, called stripe-type-lambda-trititanium-pentoxide, is composed of only titanium atoms and oxygen atoms, and can absorb and release a large amount of heat energy (230 kJ L－1). This heat energy stored is large at approximately 70% of the latent heat energy of water at its melting point. Additionally, applying a weak pressure of 60 MPa induces a phase transition to beta-trititanium-pentoxide, releasing the stored heat energy. Besides direct application of heat, heat energy can be stored by passing an electric current through the material or irradiating it with light, enabling the repeated absorption and release of heat energy by a variety of methods.
>>Stripe-type-lambda-trititanium-pentoxide is a simple titanium oxide composed of abundant elements and is environmentally friendly. Besides solar heat power generation actively promoted nowadays by European countries + efficient use of industrial heat waste, other apps incl advanced electronic devices, eg pressure-sensitive sheets, reusable heating pads, pressure-sensitive conductivity sensors, electric current driven type resistance random access memory (ReRAM), and optical memory.
http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/utokyo-research/research-news/discovery-of-a-heat-storage-ceramic.html
A novel “heat-storage ceramic” demonstrated in stripe-type-lambda-trititanium-pentoxide
(a) The material stores heat energy of 230 kJ L-1 by heating and releases the energy by a weak pressure (60 MPa). In addition, this material stores heat energy by various approaches such as (b) electric current flow or (c) light-irradiation.
© 2015 Shin-ichi Ohkoshi.
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