Molten salts, phase change materials commonly employed in thermal energy storage (TES) systems, are widely known to enhance the efficient use and storage of solar energy in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. Here, three-dimensional TES (3DTES) have been manufactured from highly porous (up to ∼90 %) 3D printed patterned vermiculite (V) and alumina (Al2O3) supports, which have been infiltrated with molten sodium nitrate salt (nn) and solar salt (ss). These 3DTES have been validated under real concentrated solar radiation in a parabolic solar furnace. Among the different 3DTES, those based on V-nn exhibits the best efficiency for the conversion of the incident solar radiation into heat; whereas Al2O3-nn transfers the heat more efficiently and allows a faster charging-discharging cyclability due to its higher thermal conductivity. This study confirms the benefits of additive manufacturing to develop a new class of innovative TES for CSP applications. © 2024 The Authors

This work was supported by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe” through Grant PID2021–125427OB-I00; and by the French “Investments for the future” program managed by the National Agency for Research under contract ANR-10-EQPX-49-SOCRATE. I. D.-H. is grateful to the JECS Trust for funding the visit to PROMES-CNRS laboratory (Contract No. 2023357).

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the online version at doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2024.116975

Peer reviewed