Covalent functionalization of graphene by azobenzene with molecular hydrogen bonds for long-term solar thermal storage

Reduced graphene oxide-azobenzene (RGO-AZO) hybrids were prepared via covalent functionalization for long-term solar thermal storage. Thermal barrier (ΔE(a)) of cis to tran reversion and thermal storage (ΔH) were improved by molecular hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) through ortho- or para-substitution of AZO. Intramolecular H-bonds thermally stabilized cis-ortho-AZO on RGO with a long-term half-life of 5400 h (ΔE(a) = 1.2 eV), which was much longer than that of RGO-para-AZO (116 h). RGO-para-AZO with one intermolecular H-bond showed a high density of thermal storage up to 269.8 kJ kg(−1) compared with RGO-ortho-AZO (149.6 kJ kg(−1)) with multiple intra- and intermolecular H-bonds of AZO according to relaxed stable structures. Thermal storage in experiment was the same order magnitude to theoretical data based on ΔH calculated by density functional theory and packing density. Photoactive RGO-AZO hybrid can be developed for high-performance solar thermal storage by optimizing molecular H-bonds.