Expanded waste glass/methyl palmitate/carbon nanofibers as effective shape stabilized and thermal enhanced composite phase change material for thermal energy storage

A prominent choice for phase change materials (PCMs) for passive solar thermoregulation is fatty acids because of their many beneficial characteristics for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). Their low thermal conductivity and additional storage container requirements to prevent leaks during heating time, however, severely restrict their range of applications. In order to address these issues with methyl palmitate (MP) as a phase transition material, it was first doped with carbon nanofibers (CNFs) after being incorporated with expanded waste glass (EWG) using the melting/blending procedure. The SEM, XRD, FTIR, DSC, and TGA techniques were used to investigate the thermal and chemical performance of composite phase change materials (CPCMs). The leak-proof composite phase change materials (LPCPCM) and thermal enhanced shape stabilized composite phase change materials (TE-SSCPCMs) had latent energy between 96.1 and 96.7 J/g and melting temperatures between 26.61 and 27.12 °C. Doping 2, 4, and 8 wt% of CNFs into CPCMs, conductivity got enhanced by 29.2, 62.5, and 112.5 % respectively, due to which, the TE-SSCPCM's charging/discharging periods were significantly shortened without changing their LHTES properties much. Further, evidence came from the thermal cycling test, TGA results, and the impressive thermal reliability, LHTES cycle performance, and chemical compatibility of all manufactured composites.