Abstract
Solar energy, being both low-cost and renewable, is a viable alternative for thermal storage and can help mitigate the energy crisis. Efficient conversion and storage for solar energy can significantly enhance energy utilization. Phase change materials (PCMs), such as paraffin (PW), are capable of harvesting and converting solar energy into thermal energy, thus playing a crucial role in solar energy utilization. However, PW faces challenges, such as solid–liquid leakage and low photothermal conversion efficiency, which hinder its applications in solar energy storage. In this study, we proposed the construction of a robust poly-dopamine (PDA)/chitosan (CS)/cellulose nanofibers (CNF) carbon aerogel with enhanced photothermal performance. This is achieved by incorporating PDA, known for its excellent light absorption properties, and cross-linking it with low-cost biomass CS and CNF via a Schiff base reaction. The resulting novel composite PCMs exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency and shape stability by encapsulating PW within the PDA/CS/CNF carbon aerogel. Our findings demonstrate that the composite PCMs have a high melting energy-storage capacity of 209.57 J/g. Notably, the introduction of PDA significantly improved the photothermal conversion efficiency by 94.9 %. These results suggest that composite PCMs hold great potential for applications in photothermal energy conversion and storage.
Published Version
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