Loofah-derived eco-friendly SiC ceramics for high-performance sunlight capture, thermal transport, and energy storage

Tightened 1D/3D carbon heterostructure infiltrating phase change materials for solar–thermoelectric energy harvesting: Faster and better

“…Efficient harvesting of solar energy using PCMs to resolve the shortcoming of instability over time has been intensively explored 57–59 . To verify the solar–thermal energy conversion property of composite PCMs, real‐time temperature evolution was recorded under simulated sunlight.…”

“…3.3 | Solar-thermal conversion performance of CNTs@PC(Zn x Co 1−x )/PEG Efficient harvesting of solar energy using PCMs to resolve the shortcoming of instability over time has been intensively explored. [57][58][59] To verify the solar-thermal energy conversion property of composite PCMs, real-time temperature evolution was recorded under simulated sunlight. All the composite PCMs showed solar-thermal energy conversion and storage capabilities.…”

Phase Change Thermal Storage Materials for Interdisciplinary Applications

“…(E) Fabrication schematic of SiC ceramic-based composite PCMs. Reproduced with permission from . Copyright 2022, Elsevier.…”

“…Among various solar energy utilization methods, solar-thermal energy conversion is the most direct and effective way. − Therefore, solar-thermal energy conversion materials integrating solar-thermal materials and PCMs are particularly important to improve the utilization efficiency of solar energy. Solar-thermal materials are capable of absorbing the solar spectrum in a wide range of bands, thus exhibiting excellent absorption and conversion ability in these bands. − For example, some metallic nanoparticles have strong absorption and conversion ability of sunlight; however, they are usually blended with other photosensitive materials to further boost the absorption range of solar spectrum because single metallic nanoparticles can only absorb partial band range of the solar spectrum. ,,, In addition, some semiconductor materials (such as copper sulfide, titanium semiconductor) have shown promising application prospects in the solar-thermal conversion field in recent years due to simple synthesis, low cost, photodegradation resistance, and adjustable absorption spectrum. ,,, Compared to metallic nanoparticles and semiconductor materials, carbon materials exhibit a wider range of spectral absorption and higher ability of absorption and transformation. − In this section, we mainly review the research advances in PCM-based solar-thermal conversion materials for thermal energy storage in recent years (Table ), aiming to provide in-depth understanding and constructive guidance for the development of high-performance solar-thermal conversion composite PCMs.…”

“…SiC ceramics also exhibit excellent solar absorption ability, enabling efficient solar-thermal energy conversion. Xu et al prepared loofah-derived SiC ceramics with a porosity of 87% (Figure E), contributing to an energy storage density of up to 424 J/g. Moreover, composite PCMs showed a broadband sunlight capture (95.25%) and a remarkable thermal conductivity of up to 20.7 W/m·K due to the well-connected and continuous thermal transport pathways formed by SiC skeleton, resulting in a solar-thermal conversion efficiency 79.8% under 270 mW/cm 2 .…”