Preparation and characterization of microencapsulated organic phase change material for cool thermal energy storage applications

Abstract

In this study, an ester-based phase change material (PCM) was microencapsulated into a melamine formaldehyde shell using in-situ polymerization. The Surface morphology, thermal stability, and phase change properties of the microcapsules were characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques, respectively. The observed surface morphology reveals that prepared microcapsules shown near-spherical structures with smooth surfaces. The TGA results indicate that the microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) has on-set and end set degradation temperatures as 110.3 °C and 142 °C, respectively, ensuring good thermal stability of MPCM. The enthalpy of latent heat measured using the DSC technique was around 65 kJ/kg, with onset peak melting at 8.57 °C.