Poly(methyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycole dimethacrylate-co-acrylamide)/N-Octadecane microparticles for thermal energy storage

Abstract

Microencapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs) have been used for thermal regulation in different systems. MEPCMs are sometimes produced with functional groups to ease applications. This study focused on preparation, characterization, and determination of thermal properties of microencapsulated n-octadecane with poly(methyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate-co-acrylamide) shell. P(MMA-co-EGDM-co-AAm)/ n-octadecane shell microcapsules were prepared with 0.5%, 1%, and 2% AAm contend to make the outer surface functional. Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate was used as uniformity agent. Amide functionality is the first time imported to MEPCMs in this study. The particle size, chemistry, photography, size distribution, thermal storage property and stability of MEPCMs were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, polarized optical microscopy (POM), particle sizer distribution (PSD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques respectively. The average melting and freezing temperatures of the MEPCMs were consistent with pristine core material, n-octadecane, as the average of latent heats of melting and crystallization were similar to the contend ratio in the recipe. Besides, produced microcapsules were found resistant to degradation up to 142 °C. The results indicated that the microcapsules with amide functionality have potential to be used as a TES material.