Engineered Antileakage and Low‐Corrosion Composite Phase Change Gels for Enhanced Cold Storage: Toward Sustainable Refrigeration

Abstract

The substantial energy consumption of conventional cold chain systems presents a significant challenge to global sustainability goals. While phase change materials (PCMs) offer promising thermal regulation solutions, they typically suffer from rigidity, leakage risks, and corrosiveness, especially in subzero applications. Composite phase change gels (CPCMGs) emerge as an innovative alternative, overcoming rigidity and leakage issues through their inherent flexibility, water retention properties, and salt compatibility. However, material corrosiveness and limited stability continue to hinder practical implementation. This study developed two low‐leakage CPCMGs with phase transition temperatures of −21.6 and −21.5 °C. These cryogenic gels demonstrate negligible supercooling, exceptional leakage resistance, and high latent heat values of 246.6 and 243.9 J/g. After 500 thermal cycles, the CPCMGs maintained excellent stability and thermophysical properties. Comprehensive corrosion evaluation through 60‐day immersion tests on six common metals, employing mass loss analysis and surface morphology characterization, confirmed the gel’s corrosion resistance. The most susceptible material, carbon steel (Q235), exhibited a minimal corrosion rate of only 0.02698 g/(m 2 day) in CPCMG. This breakthrough resolves the persistent challenge of balancing stability, corrosion resistance, and cost in low‐temperature PCMG development, while advancing sustainable cold chain applications for aquatic product preservation and biomedical sample transport.