Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications
In this work, we experimentally investigated the solidification behavior of functionalized graphene-based phase change nanocomposites inside a sphere. The influence of graphene nanoplatelets on thermal transport and rheological characteristics of the such nanocomposites were also discussed. We adopt...
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doaj-12abc5f03da94be9892169f19ec0cc132020-11-25T01:08:43ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732019-09-011218347310.3390/en12183473en12183473Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage ApplicationsRajendran Prabakaran0Shaji Sidney1Dhasan Mohan Lal2C. Selvam3Sivasankaran Harish4Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, College of Engineering Campus, Chennai 600 025, IndiaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, College of Engineering Campus, Chennai 600 025, IndiaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, College of Engineering Campus, Chennai 600 025, IndiaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai 603 203, IndiaInternational Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, JapanIn this work, we experimentally investigated the solidification behavior of functionalized graphene-based phase change nanocomposites inside a sphere. The influence of graphene nanoplatelets on thermal transport and rheological characteristics of the such nanocomposites were also discussed. We adopted the covalent functionalization method to prepare highly stable phase change nanocomposites using commercially available phase change material (PCM) OM08 as the host matrix and graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) with 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 volume percentage as the nano inclusions. We report a maximum thermal conductivity enhancement of ~102 and ~46% with 0.5 vol% in the solid and liquid states, respectively. Rheological measurements show that the pure PCM shows Newtonian behavior, whereas the inclusion of GnPs leads to the transition to non-Newtonian behavior, especially at lower shear rates. Viscosity of the nanocomposite increases with an increase in the volume fraction of GnP. For 0.5 vol% of GnPs, maximum increase in viscosity was found to be ~37% at a shear rate of 1000 s<sup>−1</sup>. Time required for complete solidification decreases with the loading of GnPs. Maximum reduction in solidification time with 0.5 vol% of GnPs was ~40% for bath temperature of −10°C.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/18/3473solidificationphase change materialfatty acidsgraphene nanoplateletscold thermal energy storage |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Rajendran Prabakaran Shaji Sidney Dhasan Mohan Lal C. Selvam Sivasankaran Harish |
spellingShingle |
Rajendran Prabakaran Shaji Sidney Dhasan Mohan Lal C. Selvam Sivasankaran Harish Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications Energies solidification phase change material fatty acids graphene nanoplatelets cold thermal energy storage |
author_facet |
Rajendran Prabakaran Shaji Sidney Dhasan Mohan Lal C. Selvam Sivasankaran Harish |
author_sort |
Rajendran Prabakaran |
title |
Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications |
title_short |
Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications |
title_full |
Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications |
title_fullStr |
Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications |
title_full_unstemmed |
Solidification of Graphene-Assisted Phase Change Nanocomposites inside a Sphere for Cold Storage Applications |
title_sort |
solidification of graphene-assisted phase change nanocomposites inside a sphere for cold storage applications |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Energies |
issn |
1996-1073 |
publishDate |
2019-09-01 |
description |
In this work, we experimentally investigated the solidification behavior of functionalized graphene-based phase change nanocomposites inside a sphere. The influence of graphene nanoplatelets on thermal transport and rheological characteristics of the such nanocomposites were also discussed. We adopted the covalent functionalization method to prepare highly stable phase change nanocomposites using commercially available phase change material (PCM) OM08 as the host matrix and graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) with 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 volume percentage as the nano inclusions. We report a maximum thermal conductivity enhancement of ~102 and ~46% with 0.5 vol% in the solid and liquid states, respectively. Rheological measurements show that the pure PCM shows Newtonian behavior, whereas the inclusion of GnPs leads to the transition to non-Newtonian behavior, especially at lower shear rates. Viscosity of the nanocomposite increases with an increase in the volume fraction of GnP. For 0.5 vol% of GnPs, maximum increase in viscosity was found to be ~37% at a shear rate of 1000 s<sup>−1</sup>. Time required for complete solidification decreases with the loading of GnPs. Maximum reduction in solidification time with 0.5 vol% of GnPs was ~40% for bath temperature of −10°C. |
topic |
solidification phase change material fatty acids graphene nanoplatelets cold thermal energy storage |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/18/3473 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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