Integrating thermal energy storage and microwave absorption in phase change material-encapsulated core-sheath MoS2@CNTs

Developing advanced nanocomposite integrating solar-driven thermal energy storage and thermal management functional microwave absorption can facilitate the cutting-edge application of phase change materials (PCMs). To conquer this goal, herein, two-dimensional MoS2 nanosheets are grown in situ on the surface of one-dimensional CNTs to prepare core-sheath MoS2@CNTs for the encapsulation of paraffin wax (PW). Benefiting from the synergistic enhancement photothermal effect of MoS2 and CNTs, MoS2@CNTs is capable of efficiently trapping photons and quickly transporting phonons, thus yielding a high solar-thermal energy conversion and storage efficiency of 94.97%. Meanwhile, PW/MoS2@CNTs composite PCMs exhibit a high phase change enthalpy of 101.60 J/g and excellent long-term thermal storage durability after undergoing multiple heating–cooling cycles. More attractively, PW/MoS2@CNTs composite PCMs realize thermal management functional microwave absorption in heat-related electronic application scenarios, which is superior to the single microwave absorption of traditional materials. The minimum reflection loss (RL) for PW/MoS2@CNTs is −28 dB at 12.91 GHz with a 2.0 mm thickness. This functional integration design provides some insightful references on developing advanced microwave absorbing composite PCMs, holding great potential towards high-efficiency solar energy utilization and thermally managed microwave absorption fields.