A true game changer if true, cheap and direct storage of solar would relegate the ICE to the history books. I\'ve never been one to use the words \"game changer\" but a cheap direct storage medium for solar would allow the transportation of energy from sunny desert regions to anywhere it\'s needed just like refined petro is now and the locomotives could just as easily be powered from the same source.

The question that comes to mind is \" WHAT SURPLUS \" Power is produced during a few hours during the day time and the power is sent directly to the end users when demand during the day is high. Where does the surplus come from? It\'s not like you\'re producing excess Solar power at 2am in the morning when demand is low warranting storing the excess power. Is it me?

How much heat does it release and at what temperature? Does it get hot enough to be thermodynamically efficient at converting the heat into electricity without degrading the chemicals?

Also whats the efficiency of this material, what percentage of incident solar energy does it capture and at what frequencies.
I imagine you would need to arrange this on flat sheets, and once one sheet gets saturated with energy move a fresh one into the sunlight.
But the real question, whats the efficiency?
Is it better or worse than already fairly lame PV?


So sick of these \'we can save the world with renewables\' stories promoting the CAGW agenda with no numbers attached!

How cheap, how heavy, how efficient?!

Cheap energy storage for Solar or any renewable energy source would be the catalyst that puts Solar panels on almost every roof in the US.

The question in my mind is that having stored vast energy in chemical bond form how will the reverse process of using t5his energy by conversion to other forms be possible.In case lots of energy is generated ,how will controls be effected that the devise does not explode like a bomb?What sort of future technology need to be devloed to be able to use this stored energy?Does anybody have suggestion on this matter?

@Wombat56: You're asking the wrong people. Gizmag is a blog, not a scientific journal.
The questions you and other pose are all valid, and I share many of them. Perhaps the answers you seek are in the original published article in Nano Letters. Or better yet, contact the researchers directly to discuss your concerns. In fact, I just typed in the phrase "Jeffrey Grossman MIT" into google, and found a more detailed article directly from MIT News. I'm sure you can even do better than that.

IF this technology is inexpensive AND easy to store w/o risk of serious volatility AND is easily transported (ie. fluid pumped via pipes) THEN it might be a step forward in putting solar thermal in our homes. That would significantly reduce home heating loads... when the sun shines AND when a method is implemented to eliminate snow blockage.
This technology in no way will impact the ICE as commented previously.
Comparing to Li batteries is suggestive and misleading. This technology will in no way replace batteries... unless you are referring to battery powered sock heaters. Converting the heat to useable electricity is not efficient, not cheap and isn\'t conveniently portable.
Its interesting work that I hope we continue... but its uses may be limited to cold, sunny locations, like the high deserts of the American west where the day-night temperature delta is huge.
PS. I\'m interested because I live in the Colorado mountains. This could be a fun home project to cut my heating & domestic hot water bills.

Great find, now, let\'s get it out of the lab and into real world testing before some Chinese government sponsored factory grabs it and beats us to the punch.

You can buy very cheaply, hand warmers, which use a chemical crystal reaction( is it sodium thiosulphate?) that you recharge in a microwave oven, or hot water. Or: solar heating. Perhaps this could be scaled up.