Consistent preparation, chemical stability and thermal properties of a shape-stabilized porous carbon/paraffin phase change materials

In this study, tin tetrachloride and sodium polyacrylate were combined in a ratio of 5:14 to control the preparation of porous carbon materials using a template method. Then, paraffin was used as the organic phase change materials (PCMs), porous carbon was used as the support material, and four proportions of paraffin/porous carbon shape-stabilized PCMs were prepared by mixed grinding - heating method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS) results showed that paraffin was adsorbed by the pore structure of porous carbon. X-ray diffraction (XRD), LRS and FT-IR analyses indicated that the shape-stabilized PCMs is chemically stable. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the PCMs has a fusion enthalpy of 35 J/g, and the thermogravimetric analyser (TG) showed that the shape-stabilized PCMs has a stable thermal performance. Finally, porous carbon can improve the phase transition rate of the shaped-stabilized PCMs.