Evaluation of phase change material-graphene nanocomposite for thermal regulation enhancement in buildings

The growth of high-efficiency phase change material (PCM) nanocomposites with good heat conduction and substantial thermal capacity was of vital significance for practical matters in the sustainable utilization of energy. A novel leakage-proof n-heptadecane-graphene nanocomposite was prepared by a direct impregnation procedure from n-heptadacne as a PCM and nanographene as a skeleton. The creation of shape-stabilized nanocomposite was checked with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis illustrated that the n-heptadecane and graphene had favourable compatibility and there was no phase separation and graphene accumulation. Thermal analysis showed that the shape-stabilized nanocomposite not only had a good phase transition enthalpy (101.7 J/g) and n-heptadecane content (45.6 %) but also possessed appropriate thermal stability. The heat conduction of the obtained mesoporous nanocomposite was up to 1.527 W/mK, with a growth of 808 % compared to pure n-heptadecane. Furthermore, the optimized nanocomposite held auspicious thermal reliability, being exposed to 400 thermal cycles. Moreover, the thermoregulation tests demonstrated that the gypsum boards containing optimized nanocomposite showed a slow heat release rate and improved the building temperature profile over only the gypsum board. By virtue of the combination of n-heptadecane and thermal conductive nanographene, the obtained engineered nanocomposite might be regarded as a smart material for energy-conserving and temperature regulation in buildings.