Design, controlled fabrication and characterization of narrow-disperse macrocapsules containing Micro/NanoPCMs

A series of microencapsulated/nanoencapsulated phase change materials (Micro/NanoPCMs) were successfully fabricated through a simple suspension polymerization method, and the surface morphology, microstructure as well as thermal properties of Micro/NanoPCMs were systematically characterized with field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), etc. Compared with the DSC results, the crystallization behavior of encapsulated PCMs were also investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical microscope equipped with a heating/cooling stage (OM). Besides, the thermal weight loss mechanism of Micro/NanoPCMs was clearly investigated using combined analysis of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and OM. MacroPCMs with various narrow-disperse diameter containing Micro/NanoPCMs were prepared through polymer solution spray method, also the morphology, microstructure and the influencing factor were mainly explored. Furthermore, the concerted metal-ion complexation among macrocapsule alginate matrix, capsule shell and carboxylic carbon nanotubes (CCNTs) were also studied by FE-SEM and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDS) in detail. Based on these resultant analyses, the obtained narrow-disperse MacroPCMs showed promising prospect in the field of thermal energy storage and thermal-regulated fabrics. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.