Advances in Nanocomposite-Enhanced Phase Change Materials

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanocomposite Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 1559

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: diversified design and preparation of phase change energy storage materials and their multifunctional microcapsules; structural design and preparation of organic-inorganic polymer/inorganic nanohybrid and composite systems; preparation and properties of electronic materials
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Guest Editor
School of Material Science & Engineering, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Information Materials, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Interests: structural design and performances of composite phase change materials for thermal energy storage; structure design ang fabrication of carbon aerogel; structure design ang performances of multi-porous carbon

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Phase change materials (PCMs) are a family of chemical substances able to absorb or release large quantities of latent-heat thermal energy at a constant temperature by undergoing a phase transformation. PCMs have considerably higher thermal energy-storage densities in comparison to sensible heat-storage materials and can effectively improve energy efficiency by bridging the gap between energy availability and energy use, thus reducing energy waste. As a type of promising sustainable energy material, PCMs have not only been applied in renewable energy effective utilization such as solar thermal energy and low temperature waste heat utilization such as industrial waste heat and waste heat from combined cooling, heating, and power systems, but also broadly used for thermal regulation and thermal management in the fields of photovoltaic–thermoelectric systems, pharmaceutical or biological products requiring cool storage, temperature-sensitive electronic parts or devices requiring cool or thermal protection, telecom shelters in tropical regions, energy-saving buildings, smart fibers and textiles with a thermoregulatory function, thermal buffering of Li-ion batteries, thermal comfort in vehicles, and many more.

In recent years, the design and development of advanced PCMs for multipurpose applications through nanocomposite or nanoencapsulation has received a great deal of attention from both academic and industrial communities. Through innovative designs and fabrication in the nanoscale, PCMs can attain the additional functionality of photocatalysis, antibiosis, magnetism, electrical conduction, photoluminescence, and many more, in addition to heat energy storage and thermal management.

This Special Issue on Nanomaterials aims to cover the most recent advances in nanocomposites to enhance the various performance of PCMs and relevant technologies, including but not limited to material design, fabrications, physical and chemical characterizations, and applications. Novel works on structure design for the functionality of PCMs through nanocomposite for multipurpose applications are of utmost interest. We invite original papers in various formats, including full papers, communications, and reviews. The potential topics are as follows:

  • The innovative design of nanostructured PCMs and their composites;
  • Nano/microencapsulation of PCMs with enhanced thermal performance and additional functions;
  • Nanofabrication and nanostructural control of PCMs to achieve superior performance;
  • New structures and new functions of PCMs in nanocomposite systems;
  • Simulation analysis of PCMs in nanocomposite systems;
  • Multifunctional designs and multipurpose application of PCMs in nanocomposite systems;
  • Environmentally friendly fabrication of nanocomposite PCMs with multifunctions;
  • Other recent advances in nanocomposite PCMs for multipurpose applications.

Prof. Dr. Xiaodong Wang
Prof. Dr. Huanzhi Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • phase change materials
  • nanocomposites
  • thermal energy storage
  • superior performance
  • functionalization
  • nanostructure
  • nanoencapsulation
  • multipurpose applications

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4971 KiB  
Article
N-Octadecane Encapsulated by Assembled BN/GO Aerogels for Highly Improved Thermal Conductivity and Energy Storage Capacity
by Siyue Hui, Rong Ji, Huanzhi Zhang, Chaowei Huang, Fen Xu, Lixian Sun, Yongpeng Xia, Xiangcheng Lin, Lei Ma, Hongliang Peng, Bin Li, Yazhen Wang, Erhu Yan and Pengru Huang
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(16), 2317; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13162317 - 12 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 899
Abstract
The rapid development of industry has emphasized the importance of phase change materials (PCMs) with a high latent-heat storage capacity and good thermal stability in promoting sustainable energy solutions. However, the inherent low thermal conductivity and poor thermal-cycling stability of PCMs limit their [...] Read more.
The rapid development of industry has emphasized the importance of phase change materials (PCMs) with a high latent-heat storage capacity and good thermal stability in promoting sustainable energy solutions. However, the inherent low thermal conductivity and poor thermal-cycling stability of PCMs limit their application. In this study, we constructed three-dimensional (3D) hybrid graphene aerogels (GBA) based on synergistic assembly and cross-linking between GO and modified hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Highly thermally conductive GBA was utilized as the supporting optimal matrix for encapsulating OD, and further implied that composite matrix n-octadecane (OD)/GBA composite PCMs were further prepared by encapsulating OD within the GBA structure. Due to the highly thermally conductive network of GBA, the latent heat of the composite PCMs improved to 208.3 J/g, with negligible changes after 100 thermal cycles. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the composite PCMs was significantly enhanced to 1.444 W/(m·k), increasing by 738% compared to OD. These results sufficiently confirmed that the novel GBA with a well-defined porous structure served as PCMs with excellent comprehensive performance offer great potential for thermal energy storage applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nanocomposite-Enhanced Phase Change Materials)
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14 pages, 4267 KiB  
Article
Waste Plastic Polypropylene Activated Jujube Charcoal for Preparing High-Performance Phase Change Energy Storage Materials
by Xifeng Lv, Huan Cao, Rui Zhang, Xuehua Shen, Xiaodong Wang and Fang Wang
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(3), 552; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13030552 - 29 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1407
Abstract
The research on the high-value utilization of biomass has good application prospects and is conducive to sustainable development. In this paper, three different types of activators (potassium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and polypropylene) were used to carbonize jujube branches at high temperatures of 600 [...] Read more.
The research on the high-value utilization of biomass has good application prospects and is conducive to sustainable development. In this paper, three different types of activators (potassium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and polypropylene) were used to carbonize jujube branches at high temperatures of 600 °C and 800 °C, and then the PEG/jujube charcoal composite phase change materials (PCM) were prepared by vacuum impregnation of polyethylene glycol (PEG). The results showed that the carbon support activated by polypropylene (PP) had a richer pore size distribution than the other two activation methods, and the 800 °C carbonization carrier loaded PEG had a higher phase change enthalpy than the composite material at 600 °C. The mesoporous and macroporous structures were staggered with PP-activated jujube charcoal at 800 °C, with a specific surface area of 1082.2 m²/g, the melting enthalpy of the composite material reached 114.92 J/g, and the enthalpy of solidification reached 106.15 J/g after PEG loading. The diffraction peak of the composite phase change material was the superposition of PEG and carbon matrix, which proved that the loading process was physical adsorption. After 200 thermal cycles, the melting enthalpy and crystallization enthalpy were only reduced by 4.3% and 4.1%, respectively, and they remained stable and leak-free at the melting point of PEG for 2 h, demonstrating good thermal stability of the composite phase change materials. In summary, PP has obvious advantages over traditional activation, and the carbon-supported PEG phase change composite after PP activation is a biochar energy storage material with excellent performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nanocomposite-Enhanced Phase Change Materials)
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