High-chain fatty acid esters of myristyl alcohol with even carbon number: Novel organic phase change materials for thermal energy storage—1

High-chain fatty acid esters have not been investigated for their thermal properties as phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal energy storage. A series of high-chain fatty acid esters of myristyl alcohol (1-tetradecanol) were synthesized via esterification of lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic and arachidic acids under vacuum and in the absence of any catalyst. The esterification reactions were studied by FT-IR spectroscopy. A differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA) were intensively used to determine the thermal properties of the introduced thermal storage materials. The thermal properties were given in terms of phase change temperature, enthalpy, specific heat (Cp) and thermal decomposition temperature with related statistical data. The thermal reliability of the novel organic PCMs was investigated by thermal cycling with 1000 thermal cycles with respect to the thermal properties of the original synthesized PCMs. In addition to the synthesized esters, one commercial product was also investigated. The DSC analyses indicated that the melting points of the novel organic PCMs were between 38 and 53 °C with phase change enthalpy above 200 kJ/kg. The effect of chemical structure of the materials on thermal properties was also discussed. The results showed that these materials were favorable for low temperature heat transfer applications with superior thermal properties and reliability.

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► Novel organic phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage.
► Thermal properties of high-chain fatty acid esters of myristyl alcohol (1-tetradecanol).
► PCMs with enthalpy above 200 kJ/kg between 38 and 53 °C.
► Single, sharp phase changes with superior thermal reliability and stability.
► Favorable for low temperature heat transfer applications with negligible super-cooling.