Volume 42: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part V

Surfactant modification of expanded graphite to fabricate composite glycine water-based phase change material for cold energy storage Yali Liu, Ming Li, Ying Zhang, Yunfeng Wang, Runsheng Tang, Shengmei Zhang

Abstract

To improve the compatibility between expanded graphite (EG) and glycine water-based phase change material (GWPCM), different concentrations of modified expanded graphite (MEG) were prepared by using surfactant of triton x-100 (TX-100) as a modifier. The adsorption capacity of EG and MEG was implemented in detail. Composite GWPCM by using MEG as a porous material was prepared. The thermophysical properties of the prepared MEG/GWPCM were evaluated. The results showed that MEG-0.15 exhibited the best compatibility with GWPCM, and the adsorption capacity increased to 82.87 %. When the addition amount of MEG was 16 wt%, the MEG/GWPCM possessed a suitable melting temperature (-5.75 °C) and a high latent heat (250.77 J/g). Notably, the thermal conductivity was 2.4523 W/(m·K), which was 4.08 folds of GWPCM. The prepared composite materials showed great potential in the low-temperature cold energy storage of photovoltaic refrigeration systems.

Keywords modified expanded graphite, phase change material, cold energy storage, thermal properties