Healable supramolecular micelle/nano-encapsulated metal composite phase change material for thermal energy storage

Phase change materials (PCMs) have emerged as promising materials for latent heat storage due to their characteristic solid–liquid phase transition behavior during the melting and cooling process. Among them, organic phase change materials are commonly used in latent heat storage. Herein, new phase change self-assembled micelles (PCSM) demonstrated thermal-based phase transition properties. Silver nanoparticles were employed as an additive to improve the thermal properties of the shape-stabilized composite PCSM. The surface morphology and microstructure, general thermal properties and heat adsorption and release behaviors of the samples were characterized with the aid of TEM, SEM, OM, DSC, TGA and DLS techniques. The DSC curve showed that the latent heat adsorption and temperature, heat capacity and thermal reliability of the composite PCSM improved upon the addition of Ag NPs. The TGA curves demonstrated that the presence of Ag NPs increased the onset decomposition temperature and the peak weight loss temperature. PCSM demonstrated low thermal conductivity, whereas the composite PCSM showed better thermal conductivity. This study provides new insight into the promising preparation of healable composite PCMs and their application in thermal energy storage.