Tailoring SiC Nanowire Aerogel in Phase Change Composites with Multiresponsive Thermal Energy Storage

Abstract

Phase change materials have demonstrated attractive application prospects in various thermal energy storage and management systems. However, the design and manufacture of high-performance phase change composites with tunable thermal properties and multiresponsive thermal energy storage remain a great challenge. Herein, a SiC nanowire aerogel with tailorable porosity and surface was used to encapsulate stearic acid for fabricating phase change composites. The porosity of the SiC nanowire aerogel could be facilely tailored by a uniaxial hot-pressing method, and its surface could be coated with C or SiO₂ via chemical vapor deposition or the oxidation method. Meanwhile, the latent heat and thermal conductivity of the phase change composites were tuned by tailoring the porosity and surface of the SiC nanowire aerogel. The resulting phase change composites exhibit ultrahigh latent heat retention (96.9%) and excellent shape stability, cycling stability, and recyclability. In addition, the multiresponsiveness of the phase change composites to temperature, light, electricity, and microwave endows them with the ability to harvest thermal, solar, electric energy, and especially microwave radial energy. This study provides a promising strategy for designing and tailoring phase change composites for multienergy utilization.