Graphene Oxide Aerogel Beads Filled with Phase Change Material for Latent Heat Storage and Release

Phase change composite materials (PCCMs) with large latent heat capacity, a stable structure, and efficient thermal response have high potential for thermal management in various applications. Herein, novel reduced graphene oxide aerogel beads (rGOABs) are synthesized by wet spinning of GO slurry followed by thermal reduction, which are infiltrated with 1-tetradecanol (TD) paraffin as phase change materials (PCMs) to produce rGOAB/TD composites. An exceptionally high mass fraction, 98.8%, of paraffin TD encapsulated in the rGOABs is achieved in this study, which is known to be the highest among studies ever reported. It is demonstrated that the rGOAB/TD composite possesses a high latent heat value of 230.3 J g–1 and maintains 96.6% efficiency after 50 heating–cooling cycles, making the composite PCM suitable for emerging thermal management applications. The thermal responsive tests of various samples indicate better thermal response of rGOAB/TD than GOAB/TD without thermal reduction or the expanded graphite counterpart. With a high thermal storage capability, a high heat transfer property, and high flexibility, the novel rGOAB/TD PCCM has great potential in thermal management applications, such as lithium-ion battery packs.