Fabrication of high-performance thermally conductive phase change material composites with porous ceramic filler network for efficient thermal management

In this study, a novel erythritol-grafted bisphenol A (ETBPA) phase change material (PCM) was fabricated through esterification, and a porous ceramic filler network consisting of carbonized cellulose nanofiber (CNF) was prepared via freeze-casting and carbonization of CNF. The PCM composites (ETBPA/BNCNF/BN and ETBPA/AlNCNF/AlN) were fabricated using three kinds of methods: melt mixing, hot-pressing, and injection molding. Results revealed that the hot-pressed BN-based composite exhibited an ultra-high thermal conductivity (13.09 W/mK, 2518% enhancement compared to pure ET) along the through-plane direction, 300% increased tensile strength (3.2 MPa), and a latent heat of 98.4 J/g. The fabricated ETBPA/BNCNF/BN composites exhibited efficient thermal management performance via the combination of heat absorption and heat dissipation properties owing to their high thermal conductivity and large latent heat. The results indicate the potential of the fabricated PCM composites to contribute to the research on thermal management systems.