Concentrated solar power (CSP) is the only commercial solar-to-electric technology that can provide utilityscale and dispatchable electricity to meet the actual utility load demand. This can be done by incorporation of significant thermal energy storage (TES). TES stores additional heat in the daytime and releases it in the nighttime to a power conversion module (Rankine or gas turbine) and thus allows electricity to be produced consistently for 24 hours (the current commercial TES capacity is up to 15 hours). It makes CSP unique among renewable technologies to potentially replace conventional fossil-fueled power plants. However, due to a high TES cost, the cost of electricity produced by CSP is still cost-competitive with fossil-fuels. The DOE SunShot Initiative sets its goal to reach the cost of electricity of 6 cents / kWh by 2020. To meet the SunShot cost target, the cost and performance of the TES system should be significantly improved. One relativity simple way to improve the economics of the TES system is to enhance the storage density of TES medium. Enhancing storage fluid’s thermal capacity can significantly decrease the mass and volume of TES medium and, as a result, the structures of thermal storage and transport systems (e.g., tank, pipe, and heat exchanger) can be minimized. Hence, in this talk, I will present several technologies that can improve the cost and performance of existing and future TES systems. They include molten salt nanomaterials, in-situ synthesis of nanostructure in a storage medium, micro-encapsulation of a phase change storage, etc.