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Updated: Jun 5, 2025

Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids
Published on: August 23, 2012
Fish-inspired dynamic charging for ultrafast self-protective solar-thermal energy storage
Xiaoxiang Li1, Jingyi Zhang1, Yizhe Liu1
1State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Abstract:
Solar-thermal energy storage (STES) within solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) has emerged as an attractive solution to overcome intermittency of renewable energy. However, current storage systems usually suffer from slow charging rates, sacrificed storage capacity, and overheating tendency. Inspired by the thermoregulation behavior of Cyprinid fish, here, we present a quick-responsive, ultrafast, large-capacity, overheating-protective STES strategy. We fabricate a liquid-infused solar-absorbing foam charger that can rapidly advance the receding solid-liquid charging interface to efficiently store solar-thermal energy as latent heat and spontaneously float upward to cease the charging process upon overheating. This bioinspired dynamic charging is adaptable to a variety of PCMs, unlocking the potential for safe and efficient utilization of renewable thermal energy.
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