Application of 1-Decanol Loaded in Silica Aerogel and Expanded Graphite Composite Phase Change Materials in Cold Chain Transport Portable Boxes

Phase change materials (PCMs) offer efficient solutions for energy sustainability. Here, we used 1-decanol, expanded graphite (EG) with high thermal conductivity, and silica aerogel (SA), which is often used for thermal insulation protection, to prepare composite PCMs (EG-PCM and SA-PCM) with stable shape through the vacuum absorption method. The leakage rate test after heat treatment determined the optimum contents of EG and SA in the composite PCMs to be 9 and 14 wt.%, respectively. Even after 220 heating/cooling cycles, the fabricated composite PCMs still maintain good thermal stability. The thermal conductivity enhancement of EG-PCM and SA-PCM to 16.09 times and 1.21 times of the neat PCM, respectively. Moreover, we tested the prepared two composite PCMs by yogurt preservation experiments in a cold chain transport portable box, which proved that they could effectively maintain the temperature and acidity of yogurt for several hours without any cooling system. Based on these results, EG-PCM and SA-PCM have broad application prospects in cold chain transport of temperature-sensitive products such as food, medicine, and vaccine.