Study of Co3O4-Al2O3 Composite Powder Synthesis Method on Specification and Thermal Energy Storage Capacity

In this research, Co3O4-5 wt.% Al2O3 composite was prepared by two different methods including milling of oxide mixtures (first method) and mixing of pre- milled cobalt oxide and iron oxide (second method). Then, particle morphology, average particle size, Al2O3 distribution, and thermal energy storage capacity were investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) , Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) methods. The results showed that samples prepared by first method during short milling time (less than one hour), generally showed better energy storage capacity (equivalent to 2 wt. % of O2 storage) than the samples prepared by second method in the short milling time(equivalent to 1-1.5 wt. % of O2 storage). It was while that samples prepared in long milling time (16 h) by second method had higher energy storage capacity (equivalent to 2-6 wt. % of O2 storage) than samples prepared by first method (equivalent to 2 wt. % of O2 storage) in similar ball milling time. Among the samples prepared by second method, the samples prepared by 16-h milled cobalt oxide showed better redox behavior than the other samples. It was also found that reducing the particle size of the composite powder (reducing the diffusion distance of oxygen atoms) is not necessarily accompanied by improved thermal energy storage capacity.