Flower-like hollow porous silica sphere for high-temperature thermal storage

Low- and middle-temperature PCMs are always the objects of prime investigations, however, the field of PCMs' applications is not limited to low and middle temperatures only. In the present study, sodium sulfate was employed as high-temperature storage medium. Flower-like hollow porous silica (FHPS) supporting material was first tailor-made by a self-assembly process using TEOS as SiO2 precursor and CTAB as template. A novel shape-stabilized phase change material (ss-PCM) was tailor-made by blending FHPS and the Na2SO4 PCM via a facile mixing and sintering method. Various techniques were employed to characterize its structural and thermal properties.131