Study on the preparation and performance of stearic acid/SiO_2 composite phase-change thermal energy storage materials

Stearic acid/SiO_2 composite phase-change thermal energy storage materials with different stearic acid mass ratio were prepared by Sol-Gel method. The structure and properties of composites were characterized by SEM, XRD and DSC. It shows that the composites are formed by embedding stearic acid to nano-sized cavity of SiO_2, the melting point and latent heat increase with the increasing of stearic acid mass ratio, and melting point of composites is lower than that of stearic acid, latent heat is equivalent to that of the calculated value based on the stearic acid mass ratio. The composite phase-change thermal energy storage materials have the advantages of high thermal energy storage capacity, large thermal conductivity and steady performance.