Fabrication and thermophysical characterization of microencapsulated stearyl alcohol as thermal energy storage material

This study discusses the preparation and thermophysical characterization of microencapsulated stearyl alcohol (SA) for thermal energy storage and heat transportation applications. The developed microcapsules consist of SA, an organic phase change material (PCM) core material, and melamine formaldehyde (MF) shell material. The PCM microcapsules have been synthesized using sodium dodecyl sulfate as a surfactant using an in-situ polymerization technique and subjected to various thermal and structural characterization techniques. The results revealed that prepared microencapsulated PCM (MPCM) with 0.25 g of surfactant and 5 g of PCM exhibits better morphological structure with an average diameter of 4.7 µm. The onset melting point and latent heat were estimated as 42 °C and 137.7 Jg⁻¹, respectively. The highest encapsulation ratio of 51.9 % and 52.3 % were observed for the core to the shell ratio of 5:8.4. The MPCMs are thermally stable and the decomposition temperature of the MPCM was higher than the pure PCM. The developed MPCM shows good chemical stability and no leakage during the phase change process. The obtained results elucidate the suitability of the developed MPCM in thermal energy storage applications.