Glassy Microspheres for Energy Applications

Abstract

Microspheres made of glass, polymer, or crystal material have been largely used in many application areas, extending from paints to lubricants, to cosmetics, biomedicine, optics and photonics, just to mention a few. Here the focus is on the applications of glassy microspheres in the field of energy, namely covering issues related to their use in solar cells, in hydrogen storage, in nuclear fusion, but also as high-temperature insulators or proppants for shale oil and gas recovery. An overview is provided of the fabrication techniques of bulk and hollow microspheres, as well as of the excellent results made possible by the peculiar properties of microspheres. Considerations about their commercial relevance are also added.

Glass Microspheres

“…Glass microspheres are spherical particles possessing various implementations covering composite polymer technology, medicine, analytical chemistry, abrasive explosive, paints, and coatings. They are largely employed in the fabrication of road and pavement signing materials, like traffic paints, thermoplastics, and pre-formed signs [8][9][10].…”

“…HGMs, sometimes named as micro-balloons or glass bubbles, possess diameters changing in the range of 10 to 300 μm. They are typically made of borosilicate-soda-lime glass batch formulation and supply the properties like low density, high heat and chemical endurance [8,[11][12].…”

“…Two, three and four components metal-Ch nano-crystals (like CdSe, PbTe, CuInS 2 , Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 etc.) attract much attention in the renewable energy fields for improving the effectiveness of energy conversion apparatus[56].…”

Low‐alkali borosilicate glass microspheres from waste cullet prepared by flame synthesis

“…These properties make them advantageous in aviation and the automotive industry, 34 and construction. [35][36][37] GM are also considered for hydrogen storage, 30,[38][39][40][41] energy-saving applications (thermal insulation), and also as luminescent or reflective materials. [42][43][44] Recently GM have proven to be versatile biomaterials.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue on Glassy Materials Based Microdevices

“…Several of these papers deal with the fabrication, physics and applications of glass and polymer microspheres, which constitute a very simple but very intriguing type of microdevice. A broad overview of the smart uses of solid and hollow glass microspheres in the field of energy, from solar cells to hydrogen storage and nuclear fusion, is presented in the review paper by Righini [1]. Polystyrene microspheres are used in the article by Piccolo et al to construct a two-dimensional grating for the development of a low-cost chromatic sensor able to simultaneously determine the vectorial strain–stress information in the x and y directions [2].…”