Abstract:

Phase change thermal energy storage materials have important applications in many fields for their advantages，such as high storage density，small temperature variation during phase change and good process controllability. However，low conductivity and liquid leakage after the change from solid state to liquid state restrict their use in application. Carbon materials，including graphite，carbon fibre，carbon foam and expanded graphite possess the properties of high conductivity，low density and good chemical stability. In order to increase the conductivity and enhance the performance of phase change materials，carbon-based composite (hybrid) phase change materials are prepared by adding the carbon materials into the phase change materials or blending the carbon materials with the phase change materials. In this paper，the research progress of the carbon-based composite (hybrid) phase change materials are reviewed. The expanded graphite-based composite phase change materials prepared by absorbing the organic phase change materials into the pores of expanded graphite with excellent absorbability，have the advantages of large storage density，high conductivity，good stability，low cost and without the problem of liquid leakage，and are considered as the most important carbon-based composite (hybrid) phase change materials in their future research and application.