Micro/nanoencapsulation of dimethyl adipate with melamine formaldehyde shell as phase change material slurries for cool thermal energy storage

Abstract

The present study reports the encapsulation of dimethyl adipate into a polymer shell using in-situ polymerisation. Surface morphology, crystal structure, chemical stability, and thermal properties are characterised using various analytical methods and experimentally investigated. The surface morphology has shown excellent sphericity with a mean particle diameter of 900 nm. The measured enthalpy was 80.2 J/g, with the onset and peak melting temperatures are 6.4 °C and 9.6 °C, respectively. The calculated specific heat capacities of encapsulated dimethyl adipate are around 1.7 J/g.K and 2.3 J/g.K for solid and liquid states, respectively. Furthermore, thermal cycling performance was obtained as 95.3% after 100 thermal cycles. These capsules dispersed into the base fluid (deionized double distilled water) in appropriate proportions for the preparation of micro/nanoencapsulated phase change material slurries (MNPCMS). The prepared slurries have shown a marginal increase in viscosity compared to the base fluid. Therefore, the test results signified that the prepared MNPCMS can be considered as a potential candidate for cool thermal energy storage applications.