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The construction of high-performance materials with superior light-to-thermal conversion efficiency is of great importance for harvesting and utilization of solar energy. Hence, we report the creation of novel composite phase change materials (CPCMs) CPCMs by incorporating three kinds of organic phase change materials (PCMs), i.e. 1-Tetradecylamine (TDA), 1-hexadecanamine (HDA) and Octadecylamine (ODA), into hollow carbon nanospheres (HCNS) via a simple impregnation treatment for efficient light-to-thermal transition. Owing to their carbon in nature, the HCNS show better light absorption of higher than 90%. After incorporation of organic PCMs, their light absorption could still attain 62–70%, which can compete with the existing CPCMs. Beneficial from their abundant porosity and high specific surface areas, organic PCMs can be spontaneously diffused and immersed into the porous architecture of HCNS. In this way, the as-resulted CPCMs containing with TDA, HDA and ODA show high phase change enthalpy of 61.23J/g, 119.5J/g and 101.8J/g, respectively. The CPCMs also exhibit better thermal conductivity and excellent thermal stability, e.g., the enthalpy of HAD based CPCMs remains nearly unchanged even after 100 times of melting/freezing cycles. Under 1 sun irradiation, the light-to-thermal conversion efficiency of CPCMs containing with TDA, HDA and ODA were measured to be 73.04%, 74.46% and 71.74%, respectively, Thus showing great potential as a kind of promising photothermal conversion devices for solar or thermal energy storage applications. • A novel CPCMs was fabricated to improve light-to-thermal conversion efficiency. • The CPCMs can harvest and transfer visible light efficiently. • The CPCMs own excellent thermal stability and enhanced thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing global instability in the development of the world, the efficient storage and conversion of energy have alerted attention. In this work, a novel conjugated microporous polymer hollow spheres (CMPHS) with a high specific surface (323 m2 g−1) and unique cavity structure are creatively prepared. By treatment with simple carbonization, the resulting carbonized microspheres (CCMPHS) show a high light absorption (80%) and outstanding thermal stability (thermal decomposition at 506 °C). On basis of the abundant micropores distributed on the surface of microspheres, the organic phase change materials (PCMs) i.e., fatty alcohols (tetradecanol (TD), hexadecanol (HD), and octadecanol (OD)), are successfully embedded into CCMPHS to afford a kind of new composite (CCMPHS@PCMs) for energy storage and conversion. The three kinds of CCMPHS@PCMs exhibit high latent heats (220.1 kJ kg−1, 244.6 kJ kg−1, and 228.8 kJ kg−1, respectively.). In terms of energy conversion, the photothermal conversion efficiencies of CCMPHS@PCMs are up to 86.83%, 89.45%, and 85.40% and the electrothermal conversion efficiencies are 83.81%, 81.10%, and 90.50%, which possess one of the highest values among the most of similar composites embed with PCMs reported to dates. Based on the advantages of simple fabrication, easy to scale up, high energy density, and conversion efficiency, the CCMPHS@PCMs are expected to be one of the most promising candidates as efficient PCMs composite for a variety of practical applications such as solar or electric energy harvesting, storage, conversion, and so on. • Hollow porous polymers spheres prepared by template method. • The CMPHS and CCMPHS exhibits unique nano spherical morphology, abundant porosity. • The CCMPHS shows excellent solar light absorption about 80% at the range of visible light and superior thermal stability which make decomposition at 506 °C. • The CCMPHS@PCMs possesses huge energy density, and storage/conversion potential which possess 90% photothermal conversion and thermoelectric conversion efficiency. • The CCMPHS@PCMs has great advantages for their simple and scalable manufacture process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]