An Investigation on Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Materials: Carbon-Based Nanoparticles

Abstract

The current research presents an overview of four types of carbon nanoparticles that are: carbon black nano powder, multi-walled carbon nanotube, graphene, and graphite. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of carbon-based nano-enhanced phase change materials (NEPCM). The effect of using different types of nanoparticles at various loading concentrations has been examined. It was found that the effective thermal conductivity can be enhanced by increasing the nanoparticles loading concentration regardless of NEPCM type. However, this may be accompanied by a slower melting process which also depends on the nanoparticle’s density. Thus, the duration of storage is reported as a crucial factor to check the feasibility of using such nanoparticles. The highest reported thermal conductivity enhancement is ~300% considering CaCl2.6H2O as a phase change material with 30 wt.% multi-walled carbon nanotube.