Preparation of palygorskite paraffin nanocomposite suitable for thermal energy storage

• The latent heat of the clay polymer nanocomposite (CPN) was investigated.
• In the CPN, up to 143 wt% of paraffin could be loaded in acid-treated Pal.
• The CPN owned the highest latent heat of 126.08 J·g−-1.
• The CPN maintained ~ 92% of the initial latent heat after the cyclic test.

In this study, a series of palygorskite paraffin nanocomposites were prepared by direct impregnation method without vacuuming. In the clay polymer nanocomposite (CPN), up to 143 wt% of paraffin could be loaded in acid-treated Pal. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests indicated that the CPN had a melting temperature of 23.1 °C and latent heat of 126.08 J·g− 1. In addition, Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric (TG) were used to characterize the CPN performance. Good thermal stability was observed for CPN by cycling test; we found that the CPN maintained approximate 92% of the initial latent heat after the cycling test. In conclusion, the CPN was a promising material for thermal energy storage used in the building design.