A novel form-stable phase-change material with high enthalpy and long endurance for photo-thermal energy storage

To obtain a novel phase-change material with high enthalpy and long endurance for photo-thermal energy storage, multi-walled carbon nanotubes and h-BN were modified to form carboxylated supporting materials for HA, which have hydroxyl groups. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis suggested the interaction between supporting materials and HA, which is induced by the electrostatic self-assembly of CNT and BN@CNT. The X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, accelerated thermal cycling testing and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to find the crystallization properties and microstructure of form-stable PCMs. With 15 wt% of BN@CNT, the thermal conductivity of HA was increased by 206–238%, BN@CNT-HA1 exhibited obvious crystalline performance with about 188 J g−1 of latent heat. Furthermore, BN@CNT-HA also showed a good thermal reliability even after 1000 times thermal treatment due to the electrostatic self-assembly in composites. The photo-thermal properties and SEM results of BN@CNT-HA2 suggested the electrostatic self-assembly of CNT and BN@CNT provides a promising control strategy for the functions of photo-thermal and thermal energy storage.