Electro- and photo-thermal energy conversion investigation of polyethylene glycol infiltrated porous carbon aerogels

Due to the insulating nature of organic phase change materials , it is impossible to directly trigger latent heat thermal energy storage via an electrical way. In this work, through crosslinking, freeze-drying and pyrolysis , the interconnected carboxymethylcellulose sodium-derived carbon aerogel (abbreviated as CCA) with high porosity, good solar-thermal conversion capability, electrical conductivity , and mechanic strength is firstly fabricated successfully. The organic phase change material of polyethylene glycol (PEG) is then infiltrated into the CCA via vacuum infiltration to obtain the PEG/CCA15 composite phase change materials that melt at 52.1 °C with latent heat of 173.4 J/g. Electro-thermal test results display that PEG/CCA15 composite present low resistance (1.64 Ω), high electrical conductivity (4.201 S/cm) and excellent electro-thermal energy conversion efficiency (55.6 % under applying 1.4 V). Further results also show that PEG/CCA composites exhibit good photo-thermal energy storage and release abilities. Our results indicate that the as-prepared PEG/CCA15 is a potential candidate to be applied in electrical/solar energy utilization.