Performance analysis of phase change composites improved with graphene oxide nanoparticle for thermal energy storage

Abstract

To close the energy supply and demand gap, phase-change composites (PCCs) are used in thermal management and thermal energy storage (TES) because of their outstanding ability to maintain nearly constant temperature and great energy storage density. In this regards, organic PCCs are intensively researched, much like fatty acids and polymers, due to their excellent thermal stability, wide temperature range, high TES capacity, and other characteristics. However, PCCs use as TES materials has been constrained by the “leakage” they experience while going from solid to liquid. This study sought to investigate the direct relationship between PCC and graphene oxide (GO). To examine the thermophysical, thermal stability, microstructure, and morphological behaviors of the PCC (using 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and stearic acid (SA)) modified by different percent of GO, a number of experiments were done. The phase transition characteristics of PCCs and the structure of stearic acid are very comparable. The results shows that the latent heat of fusion for PCC1 (HEC/SA), PCC2 (HEC/SA/GO 5 %), PCC3 (HEC/SA/GO 10 %) and PCC4 (HEC/SA/GO 15 %) are about 148.31, 140.43, 135.61 and 126.57 kJ·kg⁻¹, respectively. Also, thermal stability analyzes show the maximum stability (97.77 %) for PCC4 (HEC/SA/GO 15 %). The outcomes may be attributed to the incorporation of GO, which rebuilt the chemical makeup of PCC and created a reliable layered structural system inside PCC. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd