Novel energy-saving materials for microwave heating

Novel foams and plates of Fe(2)O(3)-Li(2)O-SiO(2)-Al(2)O(3) composition made from a mixture of Fe(3)O(4) and petalite mineral have been discovered to get rapidly heated under microwave irradiation and have relatively high heat energy holding ability compared to the presently used commercial ceramics. The Fe(3)O(4) component transformed to Fe(2)O(3) is responsible for microwave-assisted rapid self-heating of the composites and the relatively low thermal conductivity of these composites leads to their high heat holding ability. These novel ceramics are being commercialized as microwave ware. They also have potential applications in remediation of organic contaminants by facilitating ultrafast decomposition upon microwave irradiation as demonstrated with cooking oil as an example.