Synthesis of Lauric-Myristic Acid/Activated Carbon Composite as a New Shape-Stabilized Energy Storage Material

Abstract

In this work, a new composite phase change material (CPCM) with lauric-myristic acid (LA-MA) eutectic as PCM and activated carbon (AC) was used as supporting material with four different mass ratios of 5.0:5.0, 5.5:4.5, 6.0:4.0, and 6.5:3.5, respectively. The properties and microstructure of LA-MA/AC were analyzed by some characterization methods. The results show that the composite process of LA-MA eutectic and AC was a simple physical mixing and no new chemical bonds were found. The fusion and freeze temperature, enthalpy of the samples were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the residual weight of the samples was analyzed by thermogravimeter (TGA). It was shown that the fusion and freeze temperature of LA-MA eutectic separately were 32.42 ℃ and 33.63 ℃, and its fusion enthalpy and freeze enthalpy were 152.64 J/g and 148.8 J/g, respectively. TGA data shows that the thermal stability of LA-MA eutectic was obviously improved by adding AC as a support material. The results of this study can be available for reference to solar energy storage applications.