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Synthesis and thermal performance of nano-sized paraffin-based titania encapsulated PCMs via sol–gel method

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Abstract

Paraffin- and titania (TiO2)-based nano-encapsulated phase change materials (NePCMs) were synthesized by the sol–gel process to improve thermal as well as phase change performance. Nine different samples of NePCMs were prepared by varying core/shell mass ratios, and their effect was investigated on thermal performance. The paraffin/TiO2 nanocapsules were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The characterization techniques confirmed that the paraffin was successfully contained in the TiO2 shell. The maximum effective melting (73.47 Jg−1) and solidification (71.87 Jg−1) latent heat for the NePCMs were found to be at a 52.33% encapsulation ratio. The mean size of the NePCMs was approximately 238 nm measured from DLS. The thermal properties of the same sample stayed almost the same even after 100 thermal cycles validated by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves, and thermal stability was evaluated by a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA).

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Abbreviations

e:

Encapsulation efficiency

r :

Encapsulation ratio

\(\Delta H_{{\text{m,NePCM}}}\) :

Melting latent heat of the nano-encapsulated phase change material

\(\Delta H_{{\text{m,PCM}}}\) :

Melting latent heat of the bulk phase change material

NePCMs:

Nano-encapsulated phase change materials

PCMs:

Phase change materials

SiO2 :

Silica

SDS:

Sodium dodecyl sulfate

\(\Delta H_{{\text{s,NePCM}}}\) :

Solidification latent heat of the nano-encapsulated phase change material

\(\Delta H_{{\text{s,PCM}}}\) :

Solidification latent heat of the bulk phase change material

TiO2 :

Titania

TBT:

Tetrabutyl orthotitanate

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Mourad Benamara at the University of Arkansas to help in the testing of the samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Muhammad Ghufran & David Huitink

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  1. Muhammad Ghufran
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  2. David Huitink
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MG helped in conceptualization, investigation, experimentation, writing—original draft, and visualization. DH contributed to writing—review and editing, supervision, and resources.

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Correspondence to David Huitink.

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Ghufran, M., Huitink, D. Synthesis and thermal performance of nano-sized paraffin-based titania encapsulated PCMs via sol–gel method. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 11629–11640 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12519-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12519-0

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