Improved energy storage performance through the composition of molecular solar thermal (MOST) molecule and phase change material (PCM) in electrospinning fiber.

In this paper, an electrospinning composite material for solar energy storage was prepared by combining 2-methyl-acrylic acid 6-[4-(4-methoxy-phenylazo)-phenoxy]-hexyl ester (MAHE) as molecular solar thermal (MOST) molecule and polyethylene glycol-2000 (PEG) as phase change material (PCM) using electrospinning technique for the first time. In the composite fibers, both kinds of energy storage molecules successfully carried out energy storage and release behavior, and the enthalpy value reached 11.623 J/g. MAHE molecule in the composite showed good fatigue resistance in the reversible charge and discharge process within 50 cycles. It is more noteworthy that the materials obtained by electrospinning have excellent leakage resistance. The experimental results show that electrospinning has a wide development potential in the preparation of solar energy storage materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]