Preparation, thermal properties and thermal reliability of microencapsulated n-eicosane as novel phase change material for thermal energy storage

This study deals with preparation, characterization, thermal properties and thermal reliability of n-eicosane microcapsules as novel phase change material (PCM) for thermal energy storage. The microcapsulated PCMs were prepared by coating n-eicosane with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) shell. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and particle size distribution (PSD) analysis were used to characterize the PMMA/eicosane microcapsules as microcapsulated PCMs. The PSD analysis indicated that the average diameter of microcapsules was found to be 0.70 μm under the stirring speed of 2000 rpm. Thermal properties and thermal reliability of the microcapsules were determined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. From DSC analysis, the melting and freezing temperatures and the latent heats of the microcapsules were measured as 35.2°C and 34.9 °C, 84.2 and-87.5 J/g, respectively. TGA analysis indicated that PMMA/eicosane microcapsules degrade in three steps at considerably high temperatures. Accelerated thermal cycling tests have been also applied to show the thermal reliability of the microcapsules. All results showed that thermal properties make the PMMA/eicosane microcapsules potential PCM for thermal energy storage.