Medium-High Temperature Composite Phase Change Materials Based on Porous Ceramics

Medium-high temperature thermal energy storage usually uses composite phase change materials (CPCMs) composed of inorganic salts and porous skeletons, due to their high energy density, wide phase change temperature range, and stable physical/chemical properties. Inorganic salts provide enough heat storage capacity, and the porous skeleton is a stable packaging carrier that solves the low thermal conductivity and easy leakage of the former. Compared with alloy matrices, porous ceramics have higher corrosion resistance, economic benefits, and more stable thermal performance, which is more suitable for medium-high temperature thermal engineering applications. This chapter focuses on the medium-high temperature CPCMs based on the porous ceramic matrix, including the preparation process and thermal properties of CPCMs, the material types and selection principles of porous ceramic, and the system-level comprehensive study and application. This work aims to provide a coupling relationship between porous ceramics and inorganic salts so that the reader can obtain the ideal CPCMs in a specific application.