Microstructure and Characterization of Capric-stearic Acid/Modified Expanded Vermiculite Thermal Storage Composites

In order to improve the thermal storage capacity of expanded vermiculite（EV） based formstable composite PCM（FS-PCM） via organic modification of EV, first, EV was modified with a sodium stearate（Na St） as surface modifier, and organic EV（OEV） with hydrophobicity and higher adsorption capacity for fatty acid was obtained. A novel capric-stearic acid eutectic（CA-SA）/OEV FS-PCM with high thermal storage capacity was then developed. OEV and CA-SA/OEV were characterized by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR）, differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, thermal gravimetry（TG）, and thermal cycling test. Results showed that OEV has obvious hydrophobicity and a higher adsorption capacity for fatty acid. Its adsorption ratio has increased by 48.71% compared with that of EV. CA-SA/OEV possesses high thermal storage density（112.52 J/g）, suitable melting temperature（20.49 ℃）, good chemical compatibility, excellent thermal stability and reliability, indicating great application potential for building energy efficiency. Moreover, organic modification of inorganic matrix may offer novel options for improving its adsorption capacity for organic PCMs and increasing heat storage capacity of corresponding FS-PCMs.

Role of Composite Phase Change Material on the Thermal Performance of a Latent Heat Storage System: Experimental Investigation

Paraffin wax is a perfect phase change material(PCM)that can be used in latent heat storage units(LHSUs).The utilization of such LHSU is restricted by the poor conductivity of PCM.In the present work,a metal foam made of aluminium with PCM was used to produce a composite PCM as a thermal conductivity technique in PCM⁃LHSU and water was used as heat transfer fluid(HTF).An experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics of LHSU using pure PCM and composite PCM.The study included time⁃dependent visualization of the PCM during the melting and solidification processes.Besides,a thermocouple network was placed inside the heat storage to record the temperature profile during each process.Results showed that better performance could be obtained using composite PCM⁃LHSU for both melting and solidification processes.The melting time of composite PCM⁃LHSU was about 83%faster than that of a simple PCM⁃LHSU,and the percentage decreasing in the solidification time was about 85%due to the provision of metal foam.

Biomass Homogeneity Reinforced Carbon Aerogels Derived Functional Phase-Change Materials for Solar–Thermal Energy Conversion and Storage

We deviseda functional form stable compositephase-change materials(PCMs)toachieve a three-dimensional(3D)interconnectedporous carbon aerogel structure for encapsulating polyethyleneglycol(PEG).Anovelhomogeneity reinforced carbonaerogel witha well-interconnected porous structure was constructed bycombining a flexible carbonresource from biomass guar gum with hard-brittle carbonfrom polyimide,to overcome severeshrinkage andpoor mechanical performance of traditionalcarbon aerogel.Thesupportingcarbon aerogel-encapsulated PEG produced thenovel composite PCMswithgood structure stability andcomprehensive energy storage performance.Theresults showed thatthecomposite PCMsdisplayed awell-defined 3Dinterconnected structure,and theirenergy storage capacities were 171.5 and169.5 J/g,which changed onlyslightlyafter 100 thermalcycles,andthe compositescould maintainthe equilibrium temperature at50.0−58.1℃ for about 760.3 s.The thermal conductivityofthe compositescould reach0.62 W m^(−1) K^(−1),which effectively enhanced the thermalresponse rate.And thecomposite PCMs exhibited good leakage-proof performance andexcellent light–thermal conversion.The compressive strengthof thecomposite PCMscan improveupto 1.602 MPa.Results indicatethatthisstrategy canbe efficiently usedtodevelop novel composite PCMswithimproved comprehensive thermalperformance and high light–thermal conversion.

A Novel Layered Double Hydroxide and Dodecyl Alcohol Assisted PCM Composite with High Latent Heat Storage Capacity and Thermal Conductivity

Dodecyl alcohol(DDA) is a promising solid-liquid phase change material(PCM) due to its favorable latent heat storage(LHS) characteristics.However,the leakage issue of PCM in a melted state during the heating period and low thermal conductivity restricts its utilization potential in thermal energy storage(TES) practices.Within the same context,the present work aims to overcome the leakage issue and improve the thermal conductivity of the DDA.With this in mind,a novel leak-proof layered double hydroxide(LDH)/DDA composite PCM is proposed through a solution-based impregnation method.The leak-proof impregnation ratio of the DDA impregnated within the cavities of the synthesized Al/Fe-LDH was determined to be 60%.Detailed morphological,physicochemical,and thermal properties of the fabricated composite were studied by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),Fourier transforms infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy,X-ray diffraction(XRD)spectroscopy,differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),thermalgravimetric analysis(TGA),and thermal cycling study.The results show that the LDH/DDA composite has a suitable phase change temperature(about 20℃) for passive solar thermal management of building envelopes.This composite PCM showed high LHS enthalpy(about136 J/g),good thermal stability,and cycling LHS reliability.It also showed nearly 152% higher thermal conductivity compared to that of pure DDA,ultimately reducing the melting and solidification time of the pure DDA by 44.9% and 45.5%,respectively.

Characterization and Thermal Conductivity of Modified Graphite/Fatty Acid Eutectic/PMMA Form-Stable Phase Change Material

We prepared and characterized a form-stable composite phase change material （PCM） with higher thermal conductivity. Capric acid（CA）-myristic acid（MA） eutectic as core, poly-methyl methacrylate （PMMA） as supportive matrix and modified graphite （MG） powders serving as the thermal conductance improver were blended by bulk- polymerization method. The composite PCMs with different MG mass fraction （2%, 5%, 7%, 10% and 15%） were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, DSC technique and mechanical tests. Thermal conductivities of the composites were measured by transient hot-wire method. The results indicate that MG powders have been successfully inserted into the CA-MA/PMMA matrix without any chemical reaction with each other. The MG/CA-MA/PMMA composites maintain good thermal storage performance while the thermal conductivity has been enhanced significantly. The composite PCM added with 15 wt% MG powders increases approximately as 195.9% in thermal conductivity. Moreover, the thermal conductivity improvement of the composite PCMs is also verified by the melting-freezing experiment, which is profitable for the heat transfer efficiency in latent heat thermal energy storage system.

Preparation and characterization of capric-palmitic-stearic acid ternary eutectic mixture/expanded vermiculite composites as form-stabilized thermal energy storage materials

In this study, a composite of form-stable phase change materials （FSPCMs） were prepared by the incorporation of a eutectic mixture of capric-palmitic-stearic acid （CA-PA-SA） into expanded vermiculite （EV） via vacuum impregnation. In the composites, CA-PA-SA was utilized as a thermal energy storage material, and EV served as the supporting material. X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results demonstrated that CA-PA-SA and EV in the composites only undergo physical combination, not a chemical reaction. Scanning electron microscopy images indicated that CA-PA-SA is sufficiently absorbed in the expanded vermiculite porous network. According to differential scanning calorimetry results, the 70 wt% CA-PA-SA/EV sample melts at 19.3 ℃ with a latent heat of 117.6J/g and solidifies at 17.1 ℃ with a latent heat of 118.3J/g. Thermal cycling measurements indicated that FSPCMs exhibit adequate stability even after being subjected to 200 melting-freezing cycles. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of the composites increased by approximately 49.58% with the addition of 5 wt% of Cu powder. Hence, CA-PA-SA/EV FSPCMs are effective latent heat thermal energy storage building materials.