A polyethylene glycol/hydroxyapatite composite phase change material for thermal energy storage

In this paper, a novel composite form-stable phase change material based on polyethylene glycol (PEG) and hydroxyapatite (HAP) was fabricated by impregnating method. In the composite, PEG was used as phase-change material while HAP was served as supporting matrix, unlike in previous report where it was hardly used as a supporting material. According to Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) results, the satisfactory sample melted at the temperature of 58.2 °C with a phase change enthalpy of 128.9 kJ/kg and solidified at the temperature of 46.9 °C with a phase change enthalpy of 109.2 kJ/kg. PEG blended with HAP prepared in different hydrothermal temperature was studied. The volume change properties and wetting properties were characterized in this study, which are favorable for thermal energy in practical application. All these results indicate that HAP could be a good adsorption material to be applied into thermal energy storage.