Thermal conductivity enhancement of sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate by adding carbon nano-tubes/graphite nano-particles

Phase change materials are great thermal energy storage medium, while their low thermal conductivity presents the main obstacle for their potential applications. Improvement of the thermal conductivity and specific heat of Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate as a base phase change material with joining Carbon Nano tubes CNT and Graphite Nano particles GNP as Nano-fillers was investigated in this work. CNT and GNP Nano-fillers added in a mass fraction of 1, 3, 5 and 7% in Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate. Thermal conductivity and specific heat were measured by Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyzer Instrument. Results have shown that increasing the mass fraction of Nano-fillers increases the composite's thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity of the composite containing: 7% GNP was 2.944 W/m.k with 155.33% enhancement, in the other hand, thermal conductivity of the composite containing: 7% CNT was 4.031 W/m.k with 249.61% enhancement. Moreover, the charging/discharging rates have been enhanced by adding Nano-fillers to Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate.