The joint research team led by Professor Jae-Young Choi (School of advanced materials science and engineering) and professor Hak Ki Yu at Ajou University (Department of materials science and engineering) has developed Ultrahigh-Porosity MgO Microparticles for thermochemical heat-storage reaction with high stability and exceptional reactant permeability. Professor Choi is also the co-CEO of C&C materials. Regarding paper has been published on Advanced Materials with the title “Ultrahigh-Porosity MgO Microparticles for Heat-Energy Storage”.

Research on renewable energy, and waste heat retrieval and conversion, has been the key to carbon neutrality. Among those research retrieval of industrial waste heat has earned significant interest. Naturally, the development of materials that can meet the criteria for industrial waste heat retrieval is now more important than ever.

[Figure] Schematic illustration of the strategy for synthesizing porous MgO and images of a porous MgO particle.

The research team has introduced ultrahigh porous structure to magnesium oxide (MgO), a highly promising candidate for waste heat storage, to develop high-performance heat energy storing material. This Ultrahigh Porosity MgO has 4 times more surface area than commercial MgO, and therefore is free of swelling during heat storage, enabling heat storage capacity 7.2 times bigger than commercial MgO.

This Ultra-high Porosity MgO is expected to serve as the key material for chemically storing industrial waste heat, and the research team will carry out follow-up research to develop new materials and control the structure of existing materials to overcome obstacles of nanomaterials. Funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), this work has been published in Advanced Materials (IF=32.086) in July 2022.

※ Title: Ultrahigh-Porosity MgO Microparticles for Heat-Energy Storage

※ Authors: Xue Dong¹, Ghulam Asghar, Bum Jun Kim^#, Hak Ki Yu^#

※ DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202204775