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Effects of functionalization on energy storage properties and thermal conductivity of graphene/n-octadecane composite phase change materials

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Abstract

Paraffin-based nanocomposites are widely used in the energy, microelectronics and aerospace industry as thermal energy storage materials due to their outstanding thermophysical properties. This paper investigates the effects of functionalization on thermal properties of graphene/n-octadecane nanocomposite during phase transition by using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. Different composite systems containing pristine graphene and graphene functionalized by hydroxyl, carboxyl and ethyl are constructed and studied. The results indicate that the thermal properties like diffusion coefficient, phase change temperature, heat capacity and thermal conductivity can be changed by both the functional types and functional coverage. Comparing with the unfunctionalized system, the system functionalized by ethyl obtained a 10 K increase in phase change temperature, a 12% increase in isobaric heat capacity at 300 K and a 59.8% increase in thermal conductivity at 320 K, and these values are larger than that of the systems functionalized by carboxyl and ethyl. The present findings provide a better understanding of the thermal mechanism of graphene/paraffin nanocomposites and effective guidance for improving their thermophysical properties.

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Acknowledgements

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 51506033), MIIT Key Laboratory of Thermal Control of Electronic Equipment (Grant No. 2017JJA001), Innovation Project of GUET Graduate Education (Grant No. 2018YJCX03), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2017JJA160108), and GUET Excellent Graduate Thesis Program (Grant No. 16YJPYSS03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, No. 1 Jinji Road, Guilin, 541004, Guangxi, China

    Peng Yuan, Ping Zhang, Ting Liang, Siping Zhai & Daoguo Yang

  2. MIIT Key Laboratory of Thermal Control of Electronic Equipment, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210094, Jiangsu, China

    Ping Zhang

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  1. Peng Yuan
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Correspondence to Ping Zhang.

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Yuan, P., Zhang, P., Liang, T. et al. Effects of functionalization on energy storage properties and thermal conductivity of graphene/n-octadecane composite phase change materials. J Mater Sci 54, 1488–1501 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2883-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2883-2

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