Phase change materials with multiple energy conversion and storage abilities based on large-scale carbon felts

The application of organic phase change materials (PCM) was hindered in some areas due to the poor thermal and electrical conductivity, easy leakage during phase change process, and monotonous energy conversion model. To overcome these drawbacks, a large-scale commercial carbon felt (CF) covered with SiO2 nanofibers (SiO2@CF) was adopted to encapsulate the paraffin wax (SiO2@CF-ssPCM) using a multifunctional PCM composite. Based on the hierarchically porous framework and enhanced thermal conductivity (0.73 W/m.K) and electrical conductivity (4.95 S/m), the SiO2@CF-ssPCM exhibited good shape stability and high latent heat of 183.8 J/g. The solar-thermal conversion and electro-thermal conversion efficiency was up to 87.0% and 82.2%, respectively. It also showed superior thermal storage performance as thermal management materials and outstanding cycles stability as a wearable temperature control device. Thus, the SiO2@CF-ssPCM has a great potential application for the multiple energy conversion and storage abilities.