Thermal batteries based on inverse barocaloric effects

Z Zhang and K Li and SC Lin and RQ Song and DH Yu and YD Wang and JF Wang and S Kawaguchi and Z Zhang and CY Yu and XD Li and J Chen and LH He and R Mole and B Yuan and QY Ren and K Qian and ZL Cai and JG Yu and MC Wang and CY Zhao and X Tong and ZD Zhang and B Li, SCIENCE ADVANCES, 9, eadd0374 (2023).

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add0374

To harvest and reuse low-temperature waste heat, we propose and realize an emergent concept-barocaloric thermal batteries based on the large inverse barocaloric effect of ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN). Thermal charging is initialized upon pressurization through an order-to-disorder phase transition, and the discharging of 43 J g-1 takes place at depressurization, which is 11 times more than the input mechanical energy. The thermo-dynamic equilibrium nature of the pressure-restrained heat-carrying phase guarantees stable long-duration storage. The barocaloric thermal batteries reinforced by their solid microscopic mechanism are expected to sub-stantially advance the ability to take advantage of waste heat.

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