Synthesis of high latent heat lauric acid/silica microcapsules by interfacial polymerization method for thermal energy storage

A novel lauric acid (LA) microcapsule with silica (SiO2) shell was synthesized by interfacial polymerization. The influence of synthetic conditions on the thermal properties and encapsulation effect of the composite were systematically studied. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transformation infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analyzed the morphology and structure of the composite. The data of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the melting enthalpy and encapsulation efficiency of microcapsules prepared under the optimal conditions were as high as 186.6 J/g and 78.6%, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated that the microcapsules have excellent thermal stability. In addition, the microencapsulated phase change material did not show significant leakage after being heated at 60°C for 60 min. In summary, the microcapsules prepared in this work have the advantages of simple process, large latent heat, high encapsulation efficiency and excellent thermal reliability, the synthesized microcapsules will have broad application prospects in the field of energy storage.