PREPARATION AND STUDY ON PHOTOTHERMAL CONVERSION AND STORAGE PERFORMANCE OF SUGAR ALCOHOL-BASED COMPOSITE PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS

Qian Cuncun; Li Mingjia; Zhang Hongtai

doi:10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2023-1078

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Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (11) : 627-635. DOI: 10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2023-1078

PREPARATION AND STUDY ON PHOTOTHERMAL CONVERSION AND STORAGE PERFORMANCE OF SUGAR ALCOHOL-BASED COMPOSITE PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS

Qian Cuncun¹, Li Mingjia², Zhang Hongtai¹

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Abstract

To enhance the direct solar-thermal conversion and storage performance of sugar alcohol-based phase change materials （PCMs） and promote their large-scale application in solar thermal energy storage, Xy-in-EG （94 ℃） and Er-in-EG （120 ℃） composite PCMs with high thermal conductivity and excellent light-to-thermal conversion efficiency were prepared using mechanical mixing and melting vacuum adsorption. Xylitol and erythritol served as PCM precursors, while expanded graphite （EG） was used as a thermal conductivity additive. The application of these composite PCMs in solar-thermal direct conversion and storage was systematically investigated. The results show that with 25% EG content, the maximum thermal conductivity of the Xy-in-EG and Er-in-EG composite PCMs reached 4.39 W/（m·K） and 3.61 W/（m·K）, respectively, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than that of the original PCMs. When the EG content was 15%, the solar spectral absorptivity of the composite PCMs reached 84.3% and 86.9%, respectively. At this concentration, the composite PCMs achieved stable encapsulation, without issues such as phase transition leakage caused by phase separation during the heating and melting phase transition processes. Furthermore, in solar-thermal direct conversion and storage experiments, the solar-thermal conversion efficiency of Xy-in-15%EG and Er-in-15%EG composite PCMs increased by~63.3% and 79.5%, respectively, compared to commercial xylitol and erythritol PCMs. The photothermal storage rate of Er-in-15%EG was 3.2 times higher than that of commercial erythritol.

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phase change materials / thermal conductivity / solar energy / photo-thermal conversion / thermal energy storage

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Qian Cuncun, Li Mingjia, Zhang Hongtai. PREPARATION AND STUDY ON PHOTOTHERMAL CONVERSION AND STORAGE PERFORMANCE OF SUGAR ALCOHOL-BASED COMPOSITE PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS[J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica. 2024, 45(11): 627-635 https://doi.org/10.19912/j.0254-0096.tynxb.2023-1078

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