We were very pleased to have been part of the 2026 CIMTEC – 16th International Conference on Modern Materials and Technologies, held at Perugia, Italy, between 15-24th of June, 2026. Within the 10th Forum on New Materials part and in the session “State-of-the-art Development of Solar Energy Materials and Technologies: PV -CPV – CST”, Christos Agrafiotis from DLR Institute of Future Fuels presented an Invited Lecture titled “Thermochemical storage of solar heat via redox oxide porous ceramic structures”, on behalf of the ABraytCSPfuture project.
The joint DLR Institute of Future Fuels –ARTEMIS laboratory (CPERI/CERTH) –Landson Advanced Ceramics presentation, summarised our most recent work in the project on hybrid sensible-thermochemical storage of solar heat, employing all-perovskite-made flow-through porous structures like honeycombs and foams.
Key highlights of the research:
🔹High-throughput computational screening of perovskite compositions based on abundant/benign/sustainable materials.
🔹Synthesis of shortlisted perovskite powders and fine-tuning of properties of merit by targeted doping and testing.
🔹Shaping of the powders to monolithic, robust, porous ceramic honeycombs and foams.
🔹Integration of these structures into lab-scale reactor rigs and demonstration of their capability to generate repeatable heat effects manifested as sensible temperature rise of the porous solid and the air stream flowing through it.
🔹Scaled-up synthesis of perovskite powders to the order of several hundred kgs.
🔹Design and manufacture of modular, proof-of-concept hybrid sensible-thermochemical storage unit.
During the conference we had the opportunity to connect with researchers active in CSP and thermal storage from around the world, exchange ideas and discuss new research directions and cooperation opportunities.
Our special thanks to Professor Pietro Vincenzini, general Chair CIMTEC Conferences for the invitation and the organisation of this unique event!
Stay tuned as ABraytCSPfuture enters its final phase, with new results to be shared in upcoming conferences and publications.
Follow us on LinkedIn [/abraytcspfuture-project]
This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101084569.