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Title: Using defects to store energy in materials – a computational study

Abstract

Energy storage occurs in a variety of physical and chemical processes. In particular, defects in materials can be regarded as energy storage units since they are long-lived and require energy to be formed. Here, we investigate energy storage in non-equilibrium populations of materials defects, such as those generated by bombardment or irradiation. We first estimate upper limits and trends for energy storage using defects. First-principles calculations are then employed to compute the stored energy in the most promising elemental materials, including tungsten, silicon, graphite, diamond and graphene, for point defects such as vacancies, interstitials and Frenkel pairs. We find that defect concentrations achievable experimentally (~0.1–1 at.%) can store large energies per volume and weight, up to ~5 MJ/L and 1.5 MJ/kg for covalent materials. Engineering challenges and proof-of-concept devices for storing and releasing energy with defects are discussed. Our work demonstrates the potential of storing energy using defects in materials.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Applied Physics and Materials Science
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1490407
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
25 ENERGY STORAGE; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; applied physics; materials for energy and catalysis

Citation Formats

Lu, I-Te, and Bernardi, Marco. Using defects to store energy in materials – a computational study. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01434-8.
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Lu, I-Te, & Bernardi, Marco. Using defects to store energy in materials – a computational study. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01434-8
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Lu, I-Te, and Bernardi, Marco. Tue . "Using defects to store energy in materials – a computational study". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01434-8. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1490407.
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@article{osti_1490407,
title = {Using defects to store energy in materials – a computational study},
author = {Lu, I-Te and Bernardi, Marco},
abstractNote = {Energy storage occurs in a variety of physical and chemical processes. In particular, defects in materials can be regarded as energy storage units since they are long-lived and require energy to be formed. Here, we investigate energy storage in non-equilibrium populations of materials defects, such as those generated by bombardment or irradiation. We first estimate upper limits and trends for energy storage using defects. First-principles calculations are then employed to compute the stored energy in the most promising elemental materials, including tungsten, silicon, graphite, diamond and graphene, for point defects such as vacancies, interstitials and Frenkel pairs. We find that defect concentrations achievable experimentally (~0.1–1 at.%) can store large energies per volume and weight, up to ~5 MJ/L and 1.5 MJ/kg for covalent materials. Engineering challenges and proof-of-concept devices for storing and releasing energy with defects are discussed. Our work demonstrates the potential of storing energy using defects in materials.},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-01434-8},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = ,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue Jun 13 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01434-8
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Cited by: 15 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Defects considered in this work, including (a) vacancy, (b) interstitial and (c) Frenkel pair defects in a bulk crystal, and (d) Stone-Wales (SW) defects in graphene. Interstitial and SW defects are indicated by red atoms, and vacancies by red empty circles.
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Investigations of irradiation effects in crystalline and amorphous SiC
    journal, October 2019

    • Cowen, Benjamin J.; El-Genk, Mohamed S.; Hattar, Khalid
    • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 126, Issue 13
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    Characterization of radiation damage in TiO 2 using molecular dynamics simulations
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