Abstract In this study, the development and characterization of composite sorbents based on commercial mesoporous silica gels and LiCl for seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) applications is described. The reported activity aims at validating the operation of sorption STES in various cold climatic zones in Europe. Accordingly, the reference boundary conditions were identified by means of a climatic analysis in two climatic zones, namely, Central and Northern Europe. The acquired mesoporous silica gels were characterized, to evaluate the textural properties, i.e. specific pore volume and pore size, needed to define the optimal salt solution compositions to maximize the amount of salt embedded. The synthesized samples were firstly investigated using scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen physisorption that demonstrate the presence of a small quantity of salt over the external surface rather than inside the pores. A hydrothermal treatment, based on slow adsorption followed by a slow desorption step, was defined to solve this issue. Finally, starting from the measured equilibrium isobars, the expected STES density at material level was evaluated, obtaining values as high as 1080 J/g under cold Northern European climatic condition, corresponding to 650 MJ/m3.

中文翻译：

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基于氯化锂的“多孔基体盐”复合材料用于吸附热能存储的开发

摘要 在这项研究中，描述了用于季节性热能储存 (STES) 应用的基于商业介孔硅胶和氯化锂的复合吸附剂的开发和表征。报告的活动旨在验证吸附 STES 在欧洲各个寒冷气候区的运行。因此，参考边界条件是通过两个气候带，即中欧和北欧的气候分析确定的。对获得的介孔硅胶进行表征，以评估质地特性，即比孔体积和孔径，需要定义最佳盐溶液组成以最大化嵌入的盐量。首先使用扫描电子显微镜和氮物理吸附来研究合成的样品，这表明在外表面而不是在孔内存在少量盐。基于缓慢吸附和缓慢解吸步骤的水热处理被定义来解决这个问题。最后，从测量的平衡等压线开始，评估材料级别的预期 STES 密度，在寒冷的北欧气候条件下获得高达 1080 J/g 的值，对应于 650 MJ/m3。