Abstract
Superparamagnetic materials have elicited increasing interest due to their high-efficiency magnetothermal conversion. However, it is difficult to effectively manage the magnetothermal energy due to the continuous magnetothermal effect at present. In this study, we designed and synthesized a novel Fe3O4/PEG/SiO2 composite phase change material (PCM) that can simultaneously realize magnetic-to-thermal conversion and thermal energy management because of outstanding thermal energy storage ability of PCM. The composite was fabricated by in situ doping of superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoclusters through a simple sol–gel method. The synthesized Fe3O4/PEG/SiO2 PCM exhibited good thermal stability, high phase change enthalpy, and excellent shape-stabilized property. This study provides an additional promising route for application of the magnetothermal effect.
Highlights
Under the alternating magnetic field, magnetic nanoparticles can produce a large amount of heat energy by the magnetothermal effect as a result of Néel relaxation or Brownian relaxation [1,2,3,4].More importantly, magnetic nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetism when their size is reduced to a certain extent [5,6], which has relatively high magnetic susceptibility and no remanence or coercivity after removal of the magnetic field [7,8]
Magnetic nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetism when their size is reduced to a certain extent [5,6], which has relatively high magnetic susceptibility and no remanence or coercivity after removal of the magnetic field [7,8]
The thermal energy from magnetothermal conversion of superparamagnetic materials was difficult to manage effectively due to the continuous magnetothermal effect [13,14,15]
Summary
Under the alternating magnetic field, magnetic nanoparticles can produce a large amount of heat energy by the magnetothermal effect as a result of Néel relaxation or Brownian relaxation [1,2,3,4]. Magnetic nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetism when their size is reduced to a certain extent [5,6], which has relatively high magnetic susceptibility and no remanence or coercivity after removal of the magnetic field [7,8]. These advantages, coupled with magnetothermal effect of magnetic nanoparticles, provide various useful applications that range from cancer treatment [9,10]. Superparamagnetic nano Fe3 O4 possess high saturation magnetization (Ms) and negligible remanence, and they were successfully combined with a form-stable PCM system in this work.
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