Multifunctional HDPE/CNTs/PW composite phase change materials with excellent thermal and electrical conductivities

The risk of leakage and low thermal conductivity severely hinder the wide application of phase change materials (PCMs). In this work, the high-density polyethylene/carbon nanotubes (HDPE/CNTs) porous scaffolds were successfully fabricated via a sacrificial template method followed by the general melt blending and water solvent etching. Subsequently, a series of paraffin wax HDPE/CNTs/PW composite PCMs were obtained combined with the simple vacuum impregnation method. The obtained HDPE/CNTs porous scaffolds can effectively avoid the leakage of PW, meanwhile, the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity of HDPE/CNTs/PW-3: 7 are increased by 2.94 times and 13 orders of magnitude compared with the HDPE/PW-3: 7 respectively, also, it exhibits high phase change enthalpy (153.95 J/g for melting enthalpy and 152.82 J/g for crystallization enthalpy). From the above perspectives, the HDPE/CNTs/PW-3:7 has promising potential value in the application of light-to-thermal conversion, electro-to-thermal conversion and thermal energy storage. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

By fabricating HDPE/CNTs porous scaffolds and HDPE/CNTs/PW composite PCMs, the thermal conductivity of PCMs was significantly improved, leading to high phase change enthalpy. These materials show promising potential in the application of light-to-thermal conversion, electro-to-thermal conversion, and thermal energy storage.