Thermal properties of paraffin based nano-phase change material as thermal energy storage

Abstract

One way to save electrical energy is by directly reducing the energy consumption and using materials that able to absorb heat. The best material in absorbing heat is paraffin. Paraffin is a group of organic Phase Change Material (PCM) which has high latent heat. Adding nanoparticles to the paraffin is expected to increase the latent heat of nano-PCM. The research aims to find out the thermal properties of nano PCM based paraffin and engineered to improve its latent heat. In this research, PCM material used is paraffin with Fe₃O₄, CuO, TiO₂, and ZnO nanoparticles are added. Nano – PCM is synthesized using sonification methods with variations of 5, 10, and 15 wt%. Latent heat of thermal properties and a melting point of paraffin nano-PCM are measured using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The results show the latent heat of paraffin nano-PCM has increased by 20.67%, 78.89%, 7.5%, and 20.17% for the addition of Fe₃O₄ (5 wt%), CuO (10 wt%), TiO₂ (15 wt%), and ZnO (5 wt%) respectively. The better nano PCM in storing latent heat is paraffin-CuO at a mass fraction of 10 wt%. Meanwhile, the addition of nanoparticles has no significant effect on the melting point. These results showed that paraffin based nano-PCM is an excellent thermal energy storage.