Synthesis, characterization, thermal properties of a series of stearic acid esters as novel solid–liquid phase change materials

This paper deals with the synthesis, characterization, thermal properties and thermal reliability of a series of stearic acid esters as a novel solid–liquid phase change material (PCM) for thermal energy storage. The ester compounds were synthesized via the reaction of stearic acid with n-butyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol and glycerol and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) techniques. Thermal properties of the esters were measured by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) method. DSC results indicated that the melting temperatures and latent heats of the synthesized PCMs are in the range of 23–63 °C and 121–149 J/g, respectively. The thermal cycling test including 1000 cycling was conducted to determine the thermal reliability of the synthesized PCMs. The thermal conductivities of the PCMs were also increased by adding 5 wt.% EG into the esters. Based on the results, it is concluded that the synthesized esters as novel PCM have significant energy storage potential due to their satisfactory thermal properties, good thermal reliability and thermal conductivities.