It can be applied to data storage, etc., where materials that can store solar energy for several months are specified.
A research team at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom reported that they have identified a material that can store solar energy in the long term. If this material is put into practical use, it is expected that it will be possible to apply it to car windshields that release heat to melt ice, environmentally friendly heating systems, and DVDs that can store data stably for a long period of time. I have.
Long-Term Solar Energy Storage under Ambient Conditions in a MOF-Based Solid–Solid Phase-Change Material | Chemistry of Materials
Study shows promising material can store solar energy for months or years | Lancaster University
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/study-shows-promising-material-can-store-solar-energy-for-months-or-years
As a measure against climate variability, the need to break away from fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy is being called for, but for the further spread of renewable energy, it is essential to establish a mechanism that can store energy inexpensively and in the long term. .. Therefore, the research team at Lancaster University focused on a substance called 'DMOF1' that was previously developed by the research team at Kyoto University.
'DMOF1' is a type of metal-organic framework (MOF) in which metal ions bonded by carbon-based molecules form a three-dimensional structure. MOF is also called Porous Coordination Polymer (PCP) because it is porous.
The research team focused on the fact that azobenzene molecules, which have the property of strongly absorbing light, are trapped in DMOF1, and conducted an experiment in which DMOF1 was actually exposed to ultraviolet rays.
As a result, it was confirmed that the azobenzene molecule in DMOF1 is deformed in MOF and the spring stores energy in the same way as it stores elastic energy. In addition, additional experiments to find out how long DMOF1 can retain energy have shown that DMOF1 can store energy for at least four months.
Jon Griffin, a member of the research team, said, 'DMOF1 has a function similar to a phase change material that heats the body warmer. Repeated use of the body warmer requires reheating, but DMOF1 is directly from the sun. It is excellent in that it can take in free energy, and since it does not require electronic parts or moving parts, there is no energy loss in the process of storing and releasing solar energy. ' I did.
Objects such as azobenzene molecules that store light energy and can be released quickly under certain circumstances are called optical switches . The idea to save the solar energy in the light switch, but this is not the first of its kind, difficult to handle in liquid many, for energy storage period is also only about a few hours to a few days, is not Tata prospect of practical use It was in a state. However, since MOF is solid, it is easy to store, and the energy can be stored for 4 months, which is long enough to span the seasons, so DMOF1 is 'heating that can release pre-stored solar energy in winter'. It is expected that it will be applied to such applications.
'Our approach shows that we can find new ways to use these materials by changing the structure of the MOF and the molecules that are trapped in it,' said Nathan Halcovitch, co-author of the paper. It was.
According to Halcovitch, crystalline materials containing optical switches have the characteristic that optical switches are arranged in an orderly manner in the crystal structure, so they can be used as media for storing data in addition to heating. That is. It is also said that it can be used like a capsule that traps a drug in a substance and releases it into the body by triggering light or heat.
While DMOF1 has promising results in that it can store energy over a long period of time, the study also found the problem of low energy density. The research team plans to continue researching other MOF structures and crystalline materials with greater energy storage capacity.
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