Melamine foam/reduced graphene oxide supported form-stable phase change materials with simultaneous shape memory property and light-to-thermal energy storage capability

By Haiyan Wu, Song-tai Li, Yao-wen Shao, Xin-zheng Jin, Xiao‐dong Qi, Jing‐hui Yang, Zuowan Zhou, Yong Wang. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020

269 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The advanced utilization of phase change materials (PCMs) is limited by the strong rigidity, liquid leakage and lack of photoabsorption ability. In this work, a novel form-stable PCM with solar-to-thermal energy storage ability and thermal/light-actuated shape memory property was prepared. Herein, paraffin wax (PW) served as a latent heat storage material and a switching phase for shape fixation, melamine foam (MF) acted as a supporting material to prevent the leakage and a permanent phase for shape recovery, and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) assembled on MF skeletons worked as a light absorption medium. Due to the light weight and abundant porosity of MF/RGO foam, the MF/RGO/PW PCMs possessed excellent encapsulation ability, high latent heat (144.8 J/g), good solar-to-thermal energy conversion and storage ability. Simultaneously, combining the elasticity of MF/RGO foam, the MF/RGO/PW PCMs exhibited thermal/light-sensitive shape memory property by triggering the phase transition of PW. The MF/RGO/PW PCMs showed excellent cyclic shape memory performance and thermal reliability. A light-sensitive and temperature-controlled board was further exploited, which could be installed on the roof of the house and maintained the temperature constancy. This study provides a strategy to prepare flexible, light-sensitive and form-stable PCMs via using the elastic MF/RGO foam as a supporting scaffold, and these PCMs have great potential in solar energy utilization and energy-saving buildings.

Subfields: Mechanical Engineering, Polymers and Plastics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/93ff5dc0df57798c86b5c7db6aaf2115cb98f945