Study on thermal storage properties of microencapsulated organic ester as phase change material for cooling application

Abstract

The phase change materials (PCMs) are latent thermal energy storage materials to store and release energy in the form of latent heat with a change in internal energy. The microencapsulation technique overcomes the limitations faced by the PCMs during energy storage and release. In this study, the new ester-based non-paraffin PCM was microencapsulated into an organic shell using in-situ polymerisation technique. The as-prepared MPCMs was characterised using the field emission electron microscope (FESEM), fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The results show that the MPCM characterised using FESEM has exhibited a good morphology. The chemical stability studies carried using FTIR spectroscopy also confirmed the formation of microcapsules was only by physical interaction. The DSC test results also signify that microcapsules have a latent heat of enthalpy of 65.32 kJ/kg, with onset melting temperature of 8.57°C. Thus, this ensures the MPCM to be considered as a potential candidate for the CTES application.