preparation and characterization of n-eicosane pcm with urea-formaldehyde shell

Phase change materials (pcms) have recently found a wide range of new application opportunities. in this study, pcms microcapsules have been synthesized with urea–formaldehyde polymer shell. the microcapsules have been characterized by ft-ir, sem, tem, and dsc analysis. then, the thermophysical characteristics of the mepcm suspension including the thermal conductivity, and viscosity have been measured at different particle concentration (2, 5 and 10 wt%) and different temperatures from 25 to 50 °c. new correlations are developed to predict the thermophysical characteristics of mepcm suspensions. this work provides a practical and efficient synthetic strategy for the preparation of mepcms, which is expected to present a promising future in the field of energy storage.