A shape-stabilized and thermally enhanced composite phase change material based on Ag@rGO-CMF three-dimensional porous skeleton

Phase change material (PCM) is a promising energy material for applications, but their inherent drawbacks, such as poor thermal conductivity and vulnerability to leakage, strongly limit their use in efficient energy storage and thermal management. To overcome these drawbacks, this paper innovatively uses a high-temperature one-step reduction method to simultaneously prepare Ag particles and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and carbonize melamine foam (CMF) to improve thermal conductivity as well as photo-thermal conversion, and ultimately a series of shape-stable thermally conductive reinforced composite phase change material (CPCM) are prepared using vacuum impregnation. The high-density three-dimensional thermal conductivity network of Ag@rGO-CMF was able to significantly increase the thermal conductivity of CPCM (up to 104.2 % enhancement). The prepared CPCM have high loading ratios (96.9 % ~ 97.8 %), high enthalpies (154–157.7 J/g), high photo-thermal conversion efficiencies (81.3 % ~ 90.5 %), and excellent thermal management capabilities of electronic devices. This study provides a simple and feasible method for the preparation for high performance CPCM.