Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is greatly limited in the fields of phase change heat storing and solar energy absorption due to its low thermal conductivity, poor thermal stability and weak photo-thermal effect. Aiming at solving the above concerns, this work structures a new composite phase change material (PCM)(PEG/BPC@Ag) with biomass grapefruit peel-based porous carbon foam (BPC) as the backbone material and Nano-Ag as a surface-modified component, and the phase change medium PEG by simple vacuum immersion method. The test findings revealed that the modified carbon foam with Nano-Ag has excellent three-dimensional structure and photo-thermal effect, which makes the prepared composite PCM(CPCM) have enhanced photo-thermal transformation capacity, an enhanced thermal conductivity and excellent thermal stability. Among them, the thermic conductivity of the PEG/BPC@Ag was increased by 2.1 folds to 0.68 W/Mk. similarly, its enthalpy efficiency λ and was increased from 82.0 % to 83.7 %, and the photo-thermal transformation performance θ was increased from 76.8 % to 91.2 %. As well, the PEG/BPC@Ag has exceptional reusability and thermic robustness performance. Comprehensively, the PEG/BPC@Ag prepared in this work has a wide potential for application both in waste heat recovery and solar energy absorption, as well as in thermal management of electronic components, as well as providing a feasible solution for solid waste recycling in utilization.
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