Study of a PCM based energy storage system containing Ag nanoparticles

In this paper, organic phase change materials (PCM)/Ag nanoparticles composite materials were prepared and characterized for the first time. The effect of Ag nanoparticles on the thermal conductivity of PCM was investigated. 1-tetradecanol (TD) was selected as a PCM. A series of nano-Ag-TD composite materials in aqueous solution were in-situ synthesized and characterized by means of thermal conductivity evaluation method, TG-DSC, IR, XRD and TEM. The results showed that the thermal conductivity of the composite material was enhanced as the loading of Ag nanoparticles increased. The composite materials still had relatively large phase change enthalpy. Their phase change enthalpy could be correlated linearly with the loading of TD, but their phase change temperature was a little bite lower than that of pure TD. The thermal stability of the composite materials was close to that of pure TD. It appeared that there was no strong interaction between the Ag nanoparticles and the TD. Furthermore, the experiment results indicated that the Ag nanoparticles dispersed uniformly in the materials, occurred in the forms of pure metal.