Preparation and characterization of composite hydrate salt PCM of industrial grade disodium hydrogen phosphate with sodium carbonate

Phase-change materials (PCMs) can be used to restore abundant heat energy and release thermal energy when it is needed, thus a continuous supply of thermal energy from renewable energy resource such as solar energy is expected to be provided. In this article, industrial grade Na2HPO4 center dot 12H(2)O is used to prepare composite PCM with Na2CO3 center dot 10H(2)O so as to improve its performance in phase transition. It is shown that an appropriate composite material that composes of 90% industrial grade Na2HPO4 center dot 12H(2)O and 10% analytical pure Na2CO3 center dot 10H(2)O is with the lowest degree of supercooling (6.0 degrees C), the longest exothermic plateau duration (10.6 minutes), and the melting solution is clear without phase separation. Furthermore, by adding 2.25% Na2SiO3 center dot 9H(2)O to above composite PCM, a more promised composite material is obtained, which is with the crystallization temperature of 28.4 degrees C, the lower supercooling degree of 2.5 degrees C, and heat release plateau of 10.2 minutes during cooling, it has a good cyclic stability of heating-cooling.

Automated summary

The study investigates the performance of PCMs for storing and releasing heat energy, finding that a composite PCM containing 10% Na2CO3∙10H2O performs well in phase transition; furthermore, after adding 2.25% Na2SiO3∙9H2O, the composite material obtained exhibits better performance during cooling, with improved stability.