Search

Hydrated salt phase change materials (PCMs) have the advantages of high energy storage density and low cost, and have great application prospects in the field of phase change energy storage. However, the problems of supercooling, phase separation and leakage of hydrated salt PCMs limit their further applications. In this work, we designed and fabricated Cu-coated melamine foam (MF)/barium hydroxide octahydrate (BHO) shape-stabilized phase change materials (SSPCMs) with low supercooling. MF was used as supporting material and Cu as a nucleating agent and thermal conductivity enhancer by loading it onto MF via electroless plating. BHO was then encapsulated into the MF@Cu skeleton through vacuum impregnation to obtain BHO@MF@Cu SSPCMs. The results demonstrated that BHO@MF@Cu SSPCMs not only present very low supercooling degree of 0.12 °C and high thermal energy capacity of 247 J/g, but maintained a latent heat of phase transition of 229.3 J/g with little change in enthalpy after 100 thermal cycles. Moreover, compared to BHO, SSPCMs exhibited high thermal conductivity of 1.687 W m−1 K−1, excellent shape stability, and thermal cycling stability. In summary, BHO@MF@Cu SSPCMs with low supercooling degree were prepared by electroless plating and vacuum impregnation in this study, which provides a new strategy to reduce the supercooling degree of hydrated salt PCMs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of reversibly thermochromic phase-change microcapsules (TC@MF), demonstrating excellent energy storage and release properties, were synthesized using melamine formaldehyde resin (MF) encapsulated ternary complex consisting of crystal violet lactone (CVL), 2,2-Di-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane (BPA), and n-hexadecanol. The microstructure, chemical composition, thermal storage capacity, thermal cycling durability, discoloration effect, and thermal regulation performance of TC@MF with different core contents were investigated in detail. With core contents gradually increasing, the chromatic aberration values (ΔE) value of TC@MF increased from 38.23 to 71.69, the melting enthalpy (ΔH m) gradually increased from 180.2 J/g to 218.6 J/g while the leak-proof performance decreased gradually. The TC@MF-2 with the best comprehensive performance has exhibited superior latent heat storage (ΔH m = 192.2 J/g), high chromatic aberration values (ΔE = 57.31), and well leak-proof properties (5.61 %). Furthermore, the thermal performance, morphology, and reversible color reliability of TC@MF-2 remained stable through 100 thermal heating and cooling cycles, demonstrating excellent thermal cycling stability. In summary, such multifunctional microcapsules can directly reflect the energy saturation and depletion states in phase change material applications through color changes. That might be conducive to expanding the value of its practical application in the field of latent heat energy storage, including smart fabrics or fibers, commodity packaging, thermal sensors, reversible thermochromic coatings and solar energy storage, and so on. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]