Characterization and Preparation of Paraffin/Modified Inorganic Porous Materials Composites as Building Energy Storage Materials

Abstract

Paraffin and modified inorganic porous materials composites as phase change energy storage materials were prepared by absorbing paraffin in porous network of inorganic materials. In composite materials, paraffin was used as phase change material (PCM) for thermal energy storage, and γ-Al2O3 acted as supporting material, ethanol was solvent. A series of characterization were conducted to analyse and test the performance of the composite materials, and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) results showed that the PCM-3 composite has the melting latent heat of 115.9 kJ/kg with melting temperature of 63.0°C. Due to the capillary and surface tension forces between paraffin and γ-Al2O3, the leakage of melted paraffin from the composites can be prevented. Several kinds of paraffin mixtures were also studied by adsorbing into the supporting materials, so that the composite energy storage materials with different phase change temperature can be used in the building wall to storage thermal of different regions. In a word, the paraffin/γ-Al2O3 composites have a good thermal stability and can be used repeatedly.