Unveiling Innovation: Heating and Cooling Research in Liquid

The release of our newest product: Triton AXTM, unlocks a whole new range of applications that were out of reach before. Triton AX is the newest addition to our in situ product line is able to simultaneously run electrochemistry in liquid with heating and cooling! But what type of applications would you want to observe with this new product? The main three applications are:

Battery research

Electric vehicles (EVs) have seen a rise in popularity due to the drive to reduce air pollution. The main demands asked for in these vehicles are batteries with high specific energy, good charge retention capacity and no memory effects. Moreover, there is a need for electric cars to operate in a variety of environments, ranging from humid, dry but also elevated and subzero temperatures. As seen in last winter’s news articles (see below), the subzero temperatures were draining the electric car batteries leading to abandoned, dead EVs left at charging stations.

On top of this, runaway thermal temperatures are another issue that EVs face. Heat accumulation and local overheating during charging and discharging of batteries are the main causes of thermal runaway. There is clear need in research progression for battery operation in hot and cold environments.

Corrosion and coatings

Large factories with various applications can operate under high and low temperatures. Unfortunately, many metals that are being used in the factories will, over time, start degrading due to corrosive processes. Research mainly focuses on using a large variety of metals and coatings, including phase change materials (PCMs) to operate as thermal storage and management systems. However, there is still a need to understand how corrosive processes are effected under high and low temperatures and to develop better materials to withstand the large temperature differences!

Nanomaterial Synthesis

The synthesis of nanoparticles can be done with a large variety of methods, including sol-gel, precipitation or hot-injection methods. The main goal with most synthesis of nanomaterials is to have good control over the size and shape, with narrow particle size distributions. To obtain a control of the size and shape of nanoparticles, specific temperature ranges need to be applied. Elevated temperatures can cause a quick nucleation and growth process, ensuring a narrow particle size distribution. However, most research which can visualize nanoparticle growth pathways can only reach up to 100 ⁰C maximum, for nanoparticles <500 nm in size.

If you want to know how Triton AX works, read the rest of this newsletter!