Nano-encapsulated phase change materials prepared by one-step interfacial polymerization for thermal energy storage

Abstract A simple one-step interfacial polymerization method without special requirements for fabrication of paraffin@ polymethyl methacrylate (PCM@PMMA) nanocapsules is developed. Moreover, all the raw materials are cheap, innocuous and rich in resource. The influences of the mass ratio of methyl methacrylate/Paraffin (MMA/PCM) and stirring speed are studied. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) are employed to characterize the as-prepared PCM@PMMA nanocapsules. Nano-encapsulated PCM could be successfully obtained under the stirring speed of 800 rpm for 2.5 h. The surface of the spherical nano-encapsulated PCMs is homogeneous, smooth and compact, and the particle size is in the range of 200–400 nm. The nano-encapsulated PCM are stable and reliable with the melting enthalpy of about 64.93 J/g and crystallization enthalpy of about 66.45 J/g. TGA results indicate that the nano-encapsulated PCM degraded in three steps and have good thermal stability with the content of the PCM about 52.95%. The PCM@PMMA nanocapsules could be promising for thermal energy storage application.