Fabrication of a Novel Highly Thermal Conductive Shape-Stabilized Phase-Change Material Using Cheap and Easily Available Cabbage Mustard Biochar as the Matrix

Biological porous carbon (BPC) is an easily available and environmentally friendly matrix for the preparation of shape-stabilized phase-change materials (ss-PCMs). However, BPC-based ss-PCMs have the problems of low thermal conductivity and poor loading capacity. In this study, we found that cabbage mustard biochar (CMB) used as the supporter of tetradecanoic acid (TA) to fabricate the ss-PCM of TA/CMB could dramatically enhance the thermal conductivity of ss-PCM, which could reach 0.597 ± 0.024 W/(m·K) and was higher than the values of almost all ss-PCMs based on biochar. The loading capacity of TA in TA/CMB could reach 57.07%, and a high phase change enthalpy of 103.55 ± 2.65 Jg −1 was obtained. More importantly, the CMB could be derived from the agricultural waste of cabbage mustards, which is easily available. Hence, the developed TA/CMB with outstanding performances and inexpensive price in this study can be employed as an energy storage material in practical applications.