Giant barocaloric effect in neopentylglycol-graphene nanosheets composites with large thermal conductivity
Yao Liu, Houbo Zhou, Zhitong Xu, Die Liu, Jian Li, Fengxia Hu, Tianyu Ma
Abstract
We report the enhancement of the thermal conductivity of neopentylglycol (NPG) by compositing it with graphene nanosheets (GPNs). Adding 50 wt% GPNs enhanced the thermal conductivity from 0.42 to 18.4 Wm−1K−1, and the barocaloric entropy change can still reach 122 Jkg−1K−1 under pressure loading of 0 → 1.0 kbar. The obtained composites demonstrated reduced thermal hysteresis, which will facilitate the large reversible entropy change. The present work thus provides a simple and feasible way to enhance the thermal conductivity of plastic crystals with a giant barocaloric effect, and promisingly accelerate the application of these materials in the solid-state refrigeration technique.