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One-step synthesis of CuS-decorated MWCNTs/paraffin composite phase change materials and their light–heat conversion performance

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Abstract

Paraffin wax (PW) is a solid–liquid organic phase change material (PCM). However, the low thermal conductivity and poor light–heat conversion performance limit its feasibility in solar thermal storage applications. In this paper, CuS-decorated carboxyl multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/PW light–heat conversion composite PCMs were prepared by one step. The structure and properties of the composite PCMs were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis, coefficient of thermal conductivity, UV–visible–near infrared spectrometer and light–heat conversion testing. The results showed that the light–heat conversion performance of CuS–MWCNTs/PW composite PCMs were better than that of MWCNT/PW composite PCMs with the same mass fraction. Therefore, it is expected that this research will open up new avenues of study for the creation of advanced composite PCM with excellent light–heat conversion performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51775510), the Planning Project of Application Research for Public Service Technology of Zhejiang Province (LGG18E060002) and the Key Research and Development Project of Yiwu (2017-Z-09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Bin Xu, Caixia Zhang, Chenghua Chen & Jing Zhou

  2. College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Congda Lu

  3. College of Engineering, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Linan, 311300, China

    Zhongjin Ni

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  1. Bin Xu
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  2. Caixia Zhang
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  5. Congda Lu
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Correspondence to Congda Lu or Zhongjin Ni.

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Xu, B., Zhang, C., Chen, C. et al. One-step synthesis of CuS-decorated MWCNTs/paraffin composite phase change materials and their light–heat conversion performance. J Therm Anal Calorim 133, 1417–1428 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7192-0

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