Encapsulation Shells for Phase Change Materials

Phase change materials are used basically for the storage of thermal energy. They have a wide range of applications, including  

The basic principles of the thermal energy storage with phase change materials have been reviewed (101). 

Microencapsulation of phase change materials protects the core materials in as this process (102)  

Important for the success in the preparation a proper shell are the ternary phase diagrams of the shell polymer, the core n-tetradecane and the solvent dichloromethane. 

These phase diagrams were assessed accurately in preliminary studies, since the phase separation method is based on the precipitation of a shell material from the phase behavior of the ternary system. Actually, the core material served as a poor solvent for the shell polymer. During evaporation of the solvent, a precipitation of the shell polymer on the surface of core droplets occurs. 

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