Eco-friendly coconut shell biochar based nano-inclusion for sustainable energy storage of binary eutectic salt hydrate phase change materials

Abstract

Eco-friendly, stable and thermally reliable nano enhanced phase change materials (PCMs) with improved thermal property and photo absorbance are vital competencies for solar energy harnessing. In the proposed research, we develop and investigate the morphological, chemical, optical and thermal features of biochar-eutectic PCM composite for clean energy storage. Herewith, primarily coconut shell-based biochar nanoparticle (BNP) is synthesized through carbonization process in vacuum oven at 130 °C followed by wet ball milling to reduce the size. Coconut shell being a feasible candidate in terms of economical, pore structured and light weight ensures better binding, uniform dispersion and improved intermolecular attraction with PCM. The synthesized BNP is evenly spread into the surface morphology of inorganic binary eutectic PCM comprising of 62% of sodium sulphate decahydrate (SSD) and 38% of sodium phosphate dibasic dodecahydrate (SPDD). Electromagnetic spectrum absorbance in the range of infrared and visible rays increased from 0.09 to 0.84 (833%) and transmissibility has been reduced from 83.7% to 15.11% with BNP. Developed BNP composite eutectic PCM demonstrate higher thermal conductivity (0.715 W/m⋅K) on comparison with base eutectic PCM (0.464 W/m⋅K) owing to the presence of carbon element and porous nature of BNP. Heat flow curves specifies increment in melting enthalpy of eutectic PCM from 202.3 J/g to 218.1 J/g with energy storage efficiency of 71.7%. On the basis of thermophysical properties obtained, the developed BNP composite PCM is expected to contribute effectively for thermal regulation applications.