Effects of SiO2 nanoparticles on structure and property of form-stable phase change materials made of cellulose acetate phase inversion membrane absorbed with capric-myristic-stearic acid ternary eutectic mixture

The innovative form-stable phase change materials (PCMs) were fabricated by incorporating capric-myristic-stearic acid (CMS) ternary eutectic mixture with cellulose acetate (CA) phase inversion membrane. CMS as model PCM, with melting point near ambient temperature as the temperature range was most valuable in practice. Effects of different SiO2 amounts on surface features, structural morphology and absorption capacity of CA membrane were investigated. The SiO2 nanoparticles created porous structure and increased CMS incorporation capability of CA membrane, the maximum absorption capacity of CA-SiO2 membrane was ∼80.3 wt.%. The enthalpies of melting of form-stable PCMs were 76.6 kJ/kg for CA membrane and 99.8 kJ/kg for CA-SiO2 membrane, respectively. The SiO2 nanoparticles increased remarkably thermal stability property of form-stable PCMs. As compared to CA-SiO2 membrane, the control temperature time of CMS/CA-SiO2 form-stable PCMs was increased by ∼46.8%. The developed form-stable PCMs demonstrated good thermal storage/retrieval property and thermal insulation capability.