Nitrate materials play an important role in the development of latent thermal energy storage (LTES) systems. This paper examined the thermo-physical properties of sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate and their mixtures with expanded graphite (EG) additives for their applications in solar energy storage. The transient hot-wire method measured the apparent thermal conductivities of the nitrates and nitrates/EG mixtures. Results showed that nitrates/EG mixture PCMs with the highest concentrations of ...
In this article, researchers used the sol-gel method to create a thermally conductive phase change material (PCM), paraffin/silicon dioxide (SiO2)/expanded graphite (EG) composite. This PCM is composed of a supporting material, silica gel, and a thermally conductive material, expanded graphite. Thermal properties, such as conductivity and diffusivity were determined experimentally, and a differential scanning calorimeter was used to characterize the melting temperature and latent heat of the PCM. ...