Self-Heating Conductive Ceramic Composites for High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage
The absence of affordable and deployable large-scale energy storage poses a major barrier to providing zero-emission energy on demand for societal decarbonization. High temperature thermal energy storage is one promising option with low cost and high scalability, but it is hindered by the inherent complexity of simultaneously satisfying all of the material requirements. Here we design a class of ceramic–carbon composites based on co-optimizing mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. These composites demonstrate stability in soak-and-hold tests and direct self-heating up to 1,936 °C and 750 thermal cycles from 500 to 1,630 °C without degradation. This thermal performance derives from their composition and microstructural design as verified by in situ high-temperature transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. They offer both higher energy density and lower cost than conventional storage technologies with a projected system Levelized Cost of Storage below the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2030 target 5 ¢/kWh (electric).
Authors
- Lin Yang
- Jeffrey J. Urban (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4909-2869)
- Qiye Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1889-8846)
- Nathaniel Weger
- Andrew M. Minor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3606-8309)
- Finn Babbe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9131-638X)
- Akanksha K. Menon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1979-507X)
- Sean Lubner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8827-9688)
- Steven E. Zeltmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1790-3137)
- Ravi Prasher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3282-7147)
- Chaochao Dun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3215-6478)
- Sean H. Mills (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4828-3439)
- Hanna Breunig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4727-424X)
- Chuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8541-6029)
- Peng Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6554-2247)
- Clément Messeri
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Peking University (CN)
- Impact Assessment (US)
- Energy Research Institute (CN)
- Department of Physics, Mathematics and Informatics (BY)
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering (AU)
- Institute of Process Engineering (CN)
- Foundry (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (US)
- Molecular Foundry
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Energy Letters
- Published
- 2025-01-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.4c03270
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Thermal properties of materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.59
Funders
- Division of Materials Research
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory