Impact of different surfactants on graphene nanoplates enhanced paraffin-based phase change material

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) is a unique material that been widely explored for thermal energy storage (TES). PCM nature of low thermal conductivity limits the performance and heat transfer characteristics. Nano-filler been used widely to enhanced PCM thermal conductivity and improved the thermal physical properties. This research work study the nano-filler impact of graphene nano plate (GNP) enhanced paraffin-based PCM with different surfactant (cetryl trimethyl ammonium bromide; CTAB and SDBS) being added. Two step method being applied to fabricate the composites of RG (RT44HC with GNP), RGC (RG with CTAB) and RGS (RG with SDBS) in different weight percentage. The analysis on Fourier transform infrared spectrum shows stable results chemically and physically. The thermal stability shows an improvement as GNP prolong the weight degradation temperature of the composite. An improvement in thermal conductivity to 59.1% achieved as the SDBS surfactant added to RG composite. The addition of GNP and surfactant gives promising results and improvement in RG composite development for TES application in photovoltaic thermal (PVT) system.