Novel composite strontium chloride is developed with expanded natural graphite and carbon coated nickel as the additives. It is indicated that expanded natural graphite and carbon coated nickel are conducive to heat and mass transfer performance, which result in improved sorption characteristic. For composite sorbents with carbon coated nickel, thermal conductivity and permeability range from 0.57 W . m(-1) K-1 to 1.93 W m(-1) K-1 and from 2.98 x 10(-10) m(2) to 2.71 x 10(-15) m(2). Novel composite strontium chloride with carbon coated metal enjoys the faster desorption and sorption reaction rate than that without carbon coated metal. For different evaporation temperatures, sorption quantity of novel composite strontium chloride ranges from 0.28 kg kg(-1) to 0.7 kg kg(-1). Based on testing results of sorbents with carbon coated nickel, a promising sorption thermal cell is developed and analyzed for combined cold and heat storage, which greatly enhances the versatility and working reliability. Under different working conditions, cold and heat density range from 384 kJ kg(-1) to 811 kJ kg(-1) and 549 kJ kg(-1) to 1648 kJ kg(-1). Modular sorption thermal cell could be flexible connected to sorption battery for scaling applications, which reveals great potentials for renewable energy utilization and waste heat recovery. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.