Preparation and characterization of magnetized GO nanoparticle enhanced microencapsulated phase change material for thermal energy storage application

ABSTRACT Novel magnetized nanoparticle nickel-graphene oxide / n-octadecane/ melamine-formaldehyde (MF) composite phase change material (MnCPCM) for enhanced solar thermal energy storage(STES) is prepared via in situ polymerization. The magnetized nanoparticles in CPCM promoted the thermal energy storage capacity as well as photothermal conversion efficiency of the composite by the unidirectional heat transfer flow. For these composite PCM, the thermal conductivity is found as excellent and more than that of pure n-octadecane (0.153 W/mK) because of the presence of highly conductive magnetized GO. The role of magnetized Ni-GO nanoparticles in the structure and properties of the microencapsulated PCM is characterized by the SEM, optical microscopy, FTIR, XRD, DSC, thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis. SEM and optical microscopy reveal that the microencapsulated PCM has uniform spherical morphology. TGA and DTA results show the CPCM is stable up to a temperature of 350 °C. XRD analysis indicates highly ferromagnetic material is well composed with GO to enhance the directional heat flow. DSC analysis shows that the composite is stable up to 100 thermal cycling processes. The enhanced heat transfer flow and better leakage-preventing performance might be highly chosen for STES storage applications of the CPCM as well as heat sink integrated passive cooling. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT