Micro/nanoencapsulated n-nonadecane with poly(methyl methacrylate) shell for thermal energy storage

This paper was aimed to prepare, characterize and determine the thermal energy storage properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/n-nonadecane (C19) capsules as a novel micro/nanoencapsulated phase change material (M/N-EPCM). The M/N-EPCM was fabricated via emulsion polymerization reaction of methylmethacrylate (MMA) monomer occurred around C19 used as core material. The chemical structure of the prepared M/N-EPCM was verified using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy method. The analysis results obtained from polarized optical microscopy (POM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the synthesized micro/nanocapsules had virtually spherical shape. The particle size distribution (PSD) analysis indicated that the prepared M/N-PCM(1:2) with the highest nonadecane content had mean diameter of 8.18 μm and 4.90 (v/v%) nanosized capsules. These properties make it a feasible PCM in incorporation to thermal fluids, textile, building and food packaging materials. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis results showed that the micro-nanoencapsulated nonadecane had a suitable melting temperature and of 31.23 °C and a total latent heat value as high as 139.20 J/g, respectively. Additionally, the prepared M/N-EPCM had good thermal durability, thermal reliability, chemical stability, phase change reversibility properties even after extended 5000 thermal cycling, and also reasonably thermal conductivity. Therefore, it had a promising potential in different thermal energy storage application such as solar thermal controlling of building envelopes, thermal protecting of vehicle battery systems, and thermal regulating applications.