Lauric acid encapsulated in P-doped carbon matrix with reinforced heat storage performance for efficient battery cooling

Driven by the growing of electric vehicle, there is an urgent need to develop efficient thermal management of Li-ion battery. Promising phase change materials (PCMs) supported on carbon supports, especially nitrogen doped porous carbon, work efficiently to cool battery with reinforced heat storage performance. In this research, P-doped porous carbon via phosphorization of ZIF-67 (P/ZIF-C) was utilized to encapsulate lauric acid (LA) and form PCM composite. P-doping can improve structure porosity and percentage of pyridinic N in ZIF-C, both of which work to enhance LA loading content, heat transfer and shape-stability of the PCM composite. Consequently, LA@P/ZIF-C exhibits higher loading content (80%), enhanced thermal conductivity (1.05 mW/K) and shape-stability (10 degrees C above m.p.) comparing with LA supported on ZIF-67 derived carbon. The LA@P/ZIF-C composite worked efficiently to reduce temperature of working battery by 10% and enhance discharge capacity by 20%, which show great potential in thermal management of electric vehicle battery.

Automated summary

The research finds that the LA@P/ZIF-C composite, formed by using P-doped porous carbon to encapsulate lauric acid, shows higher loading content, thermal conductivity, and shape-stability in battery thermal management, which can effectively reduce battery operating temperature and increase discharge capacity.