Publications
Showing 8 results for Author: Xinzhang Zhou
Jul, 2025
Journal
Electroplated Polymer-Modified Carbon Fiber for Performance-Enhancing Composite Interfaces
Carbon fiber composite performance relies on the fiber-matrix interface for effective load transfer. To enhance interfacial properties between the fiber and matrix, often carbon fiber surfaces are oxidatively and covalently modified to incorporate chemical functional groups. By contrast, here, noncovalent electrodeposition of functional polyelectrolyte is applied onto cond…
Jan, 2024
Journal
Thermal performance of phase change materials with anisotropic carbon fiber inserts
In thermal energy storage systems, phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used for thermal energy management. Most PCMs have low thermal conductivities, which limits the heat transfer rate within PCM and thus makes the phase-changing process very slow. However, thermal conductivities of PCMs can be altered by inserting targeted additives. We hypothesize that the size and…
Dec, 2023
Journal
Analyzing carbon fiber structures observed by helium ion microscopy and their mechanical properties
In this work we present images of carbon fiber fractured surfaces observed for the first time by Helium Ion Microscopy (HIM) at high magnifications, aiming to capture defects ranging in size between 10 nm and 100 nm. Nominal critical defect sizes of various commercial carbon fibers were calculated from the Griffith Equation and their critical defect size distributions were…
Nov, 2023
Conference Paper
Experimental Evaluation of Thermal Storage Performance of a Dual-Purpose Underground Thermal Battery
A geothermal heat pump (GHP) system is an energy-efficient building heating and cooling technology with great potential for reducing energy consumption and decarbonization. However, applications of GHP are still limited due to the high cost, of which 30% is related to the cost of installing the conventional vertical bore ground heat exchangers, which are usually installed…
Dec, 2021
Conference Paper
Experimental Study on Charging and Discharging Performance of a Dual-Purpose Underground Thermal Battery
A dual-purpose underground thermal battery (DPUTB) was proposed for Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings. It integrates underground thermal energy storage with a shallow-buried ground heat exchanger (less than 6 m deep). The charging and discharging performance of a lab-scale DPUTB were experimentally investigated. The test results show that the lab-scale (1:125 in volume)…
Dec, 2021
Conference Paper
Experimental and numerical study on the impacts of various long carbon fiber inserts on the thermal performance of phase change materials
In thermal energy storage systems, phase change materials (PCMs) are widely used to provide efficient storing and extraction of thermal energy. However, most PCMs have low thermal conductivities, which limit the heat transfer of the latent energy inward/outward. In this study, the impacts of various fiber inserts on the solidification and melting processes with PCM were in…