Synergistic Effects of Graphene Hybrid Nanomaterials on Phase Change Thermal Storage

Phase change materials (PCM) have provided exciting opportunities for thermal energy storage (TES) applications across different temperature ranges. Organic PCM, particularly paraffin wax, can store energy in the form of latent heat and exhibit remarkable stability under both chemical and thermal conditions. However, a major limitation of paraffin wax PCM is its low thermal conductivity, which slows the energy storage and release processes in TES. In this study, a novel combination of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles was used as hybrid fillers incorporated with paraffin-based PCMs using a two-step method with different weight concentrations to enhance the thermophysical properties. The findings revealed that the thermal conductivity of the PCMs increased from 0.24 to 0.46 W/mK, with enhancement of 47.82%, and latent heat reduced by 11.653% with the addition of 1.5 wt.% hybrid nanoparticles to the paraffin wax. In addition, the maximum latent heat recovered was during the solidification and melting of HPCM 3. These results demonstrate that the GNP-SiC with PCM blend offers a promising combination for medium-temperature TES applications.