Date of Publication :17th June 2023

Abstract: A substance known as a phase change material (PCM) possesses the capability to and brings forth substantial quantities of thermal energy when it transitions between solid and liquid or liquid and gas phases. Work has also been going on towards improving the freezing and melting characteristics of phase change materials in order to improve the amount of thermal energy that can be stored as well as the freezing and melting times. This can be achieved by the addition of nanomaterials to the phase change material. Nanomaterials that are commonly used include Al2O3, CuO, graphene Nano platelets (GnP) and carbon nanofibers. In our work we experimentally investigated the freezing and melting behavior of nanoparticle-enhanced phase change material (PCM). The nanoparticle used for our work was graphene Nano platelets along with phase change material (PCM) using an operational range of 29 ºC. With intervals of 0.1%, the volume fraction of graphene nanoplatelets ranged from 0.1% to 0.5%. Various properties of the nano-enhanced PCM such as were experimentally tested. The behavior of freezing and melting of the nano-enhanced PCM was measured. As the concentration of graphene nanoplatelets within the phase change material (PCM) rose, improvements in the thermal conductivity and freezing and melting times were seen.

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