Hybrid chromophore/template nanostructures: A customizable platform material for solar energy storage and conversion

• Main Authors: Kolpak, Alexie M. (Contributor), Grossman, Jeffrey C. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Physics (AIP), 2013-05-14T19:41:18Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Challenges with cost, cyclability, and/or low energy density have largely prevented the development of solar thermal fuels, a potentially attractive alternative energy technology based on molecules that can capture and store solar energy as latent heat in a closed cycle. In this paper, we present a set of novel hybrid photoisomer/template solar thermal fuels that can potentially circumvent these challenges. Using first-principles computations, we demonstrate that these fuels, composed of organic photoisomers bound to inexpensive carbon-based templates, can reversibly store solar energy at densities comparable to Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, we show that variation of the template material in combination with the photoisomer can be used to optimize many of the key performance metrics of the fuel-i.e., the energy density, the storage lifetime, the temperature of the output heat, and the efficiency of the solar-to-heat conversion. Our work suggests that the solar thermal fuels concept can be translated into a practical and highly customizable energy storage and conversion technology.