Novel Paraffin Wax/Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Composite Phase Change Materials Modified By Carbon Nanotubes With Excellent Combination Property

Phase change materials store and release heat energy in the process of phase change, so as to realize the effective recovery and utilization of heat energy. In this work, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)@carbon nanotubes (CNT) 3D porous matrix were fabricated by rotary sintering. By vacuum adsorbing paraffin wax (PW) into UHMWPE@CNT porous matrix, composite phase change materials (CPCM) with excellent shape stability and mechanical properties were obtained. In addition, thermal gravimetric analysis (TG) results showed that the thermal stability of PW in CPCM was significantly improved. Moreover, the highest thermal conductivity of CPCM was 0.31 W m(-1) K-1 at a relatively low content of CNT, which was 1.71 times that of CPCM without CNT. CNT was uniformly dispersed in the porous matrix of UHMWPE to enhance the thermal properties of CPCM. Especially when the CNT content was 1.5%, the thermal storage performance and photothermal conversion efficiency of CPCM were effectively improved. Therefore, the CPCM prepared by this method with excellent combination property, had great application prospect in energy storage.