Xu Xingtang, Wu Bo, Zhang Peng, Xing Youmei, Shi Ke, Fang Weihua, Yu Haifeng, Wang Guojie
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
Hangzhou Greenda Electronic Materials Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310051, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 May 19;13(19):22655-22663. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c05163. Epub 2021 May 10.
Solar thermal fuels offer a closed cycle and a renewable energy storage strategy by harvesting photon energy within the chemical conformations of molecules and retrieving energy by an induced release of heat. However, the majority of reports are limited to the ultraviolet light storage, which potentially interferes with the surrounding environment and reduces the material lifetime. Here, we present a novel arylazopyrazole (AAP)-containing dendrimer that not only addresses the hindrance of visible light storage for solar thermal fuels but also exhibits outstanding performances of abundant energy conversion and stable storage, which are attributed to the substantial absorbance in visible wavelengths of -thiomethyl-substituted AAP groups and the stability of isomers, respectively. The energy density of the dendrimer fuel after efficiently harvesting blue light (405 nm) is as high as 0.14 MJ kg (67 kJ mol), and the storage half-life of the fabricated dendrimer film can reach up to 12.9 days. Moreover, the heat release of the dendrimer film can be triggered by different stimuli (light and heat). The dendrimer film displays a 6.5 °C temperature difference between isomers and isomers during green light irradiation. Our work provides a fascinating avenue to fabricate visible light storage solar thermal fuels and unlocks the possibility of developing natural sunlight storage in the future.
太阳能热燃料通过在分子的化学构象中捕获光子能量并通过诱导释放热量来回收能量，提供了一种封闭循环和可再生的能量存储策略。然而，大多数报道仅限于紫外光存储，这可能会干扰周围环境并缩短材料寿命。在此，我们展示了一种新型的含芳基偶氮吡唑（AAP）的树枝状聚合物，它不仅解决了太阳能热燃料可见光存储的障碍，还展现出丰富的能量转换和稳定存储的出色性能，这分别归因于硫甲基取代的AAP基团在可见波长下的大量吸光度和异构体的稳定性。有效捕获蓝光（405 nm）后，树枝状聚合物燃料的能量密度高达0.14 MJ kg（67 kJ mol），制备的树枝状聚合物薄膜的存储半衰期可达12.9天。此外，树枝状聚合物薄膜的热释放可由不同刺激（光和热）触发。在绿光照射下，树枝状聚合物薄膜在异构体和异构体之间显示出6.5°C的温差。我们的工作为制造可见光存储太阳能热燃料提供了一条引人入胜的途径，并开启了未来开发自然阳光存储的可能性。
