Titanium dioxide/graphene oxide synergetic reinforced composite phase change materials with excellent thermal energy storage and photo-thermal performances

The development of advanced composite solid-solid phase change materials (SSPCMs) is urgent to explore for improving solar energy harvesting and storage. Herein, novel composite SSPCMs with synergetic cross-linking structure were fabricated through polymerization using GO and TiO 2 constructed on the polyurethane framework skeleton. GO and TiO 2 synergetic enhanced polymer framework played a role as skeletal structure to encapsulate PEG in the molecular chains, and provided as highly thermal conductive pathways for the composite SSPCMs. TiO 2 nanoparticles performed as extended surface on the skeletal structure for further improvement in thermal conductivity. The composite SSPCMs exhibited a remarkably improved thermal conductivity as high as 0.7 W/(m‧K) and fast thermal response rate. The good light adsorption property of TiO 2 enhanced the light absorbance efficiency of the composite SSPCMs by 94.4%. And the photo-thermal conversion efficiency of the composite SSPCMs highly reached 93.5%. Meanwhile, the composite SSPCMs exhibited excellent anti-leakage performance and shape stability under high temperature. Consequently, the as-prepared composite SSPCMs possessed a potential for applications in thermal energy storage and solar energy utilization systems.