The work proposed involves the design and prototype concept creation of a high-performance thermal energy storage device (TES) based on graphene/ultrathin graphite and organic phase change materials. To achieve these goals, the following specific tasks will be accomplished: 1. Fabrication and design: use of emerging fabrication processes to develop a sub-scale three-dimensional structure based on graphene/ultrathin graphite for PCM encapsulation. Three dimensional structures of highly ordered graphite and oriented graphite will be created and tested for these purposes. 2. Thermophysical analysis: a comprehensive investigation of heat transfer capacities and transport rates using both analytical and numerical methods to quantify and optimize the performance of the proposed TES device.
Benefit: Development of a thermal energy storage device represents an application made directly available by our materials expertise. By virtue of Graphene Materials' association with The University of Texas, world-class engineering and scientific expertise is accessed for product development. Large markets will be the semiconductor industry that will use graphene and multilayer graphene for nanoelectronics, interconnects, thermal management, potentially for shielding, and other applications as they appear; aerospace industry for high specific stiffness and strength (i.e., structural applications), thermal management, potentially for isolation and shielding; as a transparent conductive electrode and also barrier material for organic photovoltaic, plastic electronics and image display applications; for thermal management (mentioned again as it cuts across many industries including when employed on very large scale for HVAC, massive internet servers, and others). The extraordinary properties of graphene foils and ultrathin graphite are attracting intense interest from nanotechnology, thermal management, and micro- and nano-electromechanical system designers and producers. With access to a supply of high-quality, large-area shaped graphite/graphene, it is difficult to overstate the potential for technology insertion into these industries.
Keywords: Graphite, Graphene, 3-D Graphite, Thermal Energy Storage, Phase Change Materials, Thermal Management, Heat Management.
