Preparation and investigations of thermal properties of copper oxide, aluminium oxide and graphite based on new organic phase change material for thermal energy storage

Abstract

The effects of copper oxide, aluminium oxide and graphite on the thermal and structural properties of the organic phase change material (PCM) were investigated. Ethyl 2-(1H-benzotriazole-1-yl)acetate was selected as the pure PCM. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to determine the chemical structure, crystalloid phase, chemical composition and microstructure of the composites, respectively. The thermal properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analyzer. The FT-IR analyses indicated that there was no chemical interaction between the pure PCM and the supporting materials such as copper oxide, aluminium oxide and graphite. The X-ray diffractograms of the samples were nearly the same, but the peak intensities changed according to the supporting materials. The SEM results showed that the C, N and O elements were well adsorbed into the porous network of the graphite, Al2O3 and CuO. According to the supporting materials, the graphite had the minimum porosity and the maximum crystallite size.