Facile method of fabricating microencapsulated phase change materials with compact bonding polymer–silica hybrid shell using TEOS/MPS

Abstract

A facile method was developed for encapsulating paraffin wax with St-DVB-SiO2 organic−inorganic hybrid shells through the combination of suspension emulsion polymerization and hydrolysis and condensation reaction. In this work, the influence of TEOS/MPS mass ratios on the morphology, particle size distribution (PSD), content of core materials, latent heat storage capacity, thermal conductivity and stability of these microcapsules has been studied. SEM and PSD analysis showed that the fabricated microcapsules had a bowl-like shape with concaves on the shell. Moreover, SEM and TGA results jointly illustrated that the higher amount of MPS incorporated into the experimental process, the more SiO2 particles bonded on the shell of microcapsules. DSC measurements revealed that the microcapsules had a melting temperature range of 44.36–55.03°C and latent heat storage capacities of 38.90–95.67J/g. It was suggested that microencapsulated paraffin wax with St-DVB-SiO2 hybrid shells has been synthesized successfully.