Binary mixtures of fatty alcohols and fatty acid esters as novel solid‐liquid phase change materials

Abstract

The discovery of new eutectic phase change materials (PCMs) will overcome the current PCM challenges such as nonbiodegradability, super-cooling, and limited thermal stability. This paper reports on the development of new bio-based PCMs composed of binary mixtures of fatty acid esters and fatty alcohols at their eutectic compositions, which provide potential solid-liquid PCMs for building applications. Six binary systems, namely 1-dodecanol (DD) + methyl stearate (MES), DD + methyl palmitate (MEP), DD + methyl laurate (MEL), 1-tetradecanol (TD) + MES, TD + MEP, and TD + MEL were prepared and their thermal behaviours were deliberated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), long-term thermal stability test, and mass loss analysis. Amongst the studied systems, phase change transition temperature and latent heat of fusion of the eutectic mixtures of DD-MES, DD-MEP, TD-MES, and TD-MEP were found to be suitable for the building application with values of 22.46°C/201.91 J/g, 20.34°C/224.45 J/g, 32.05°C/209.38 J/g, and 26.72°C/210.15 J/g, respectively. The average degree of super-cooling for all PCMs was below 2°C, and no significant changes in thermophysical properties of the developed PCMs were observed after 1000 thermal cycles.