In this study, hexadecanol-myristic acid (HD-MA) binary eutectic mixtures were adsorbed into activated carbon (AC) to prepare the composite phase transition materials(CPCMs). In the hexadecanol-myristic acid/activated carbon (HD-MA/AC) composites, the mixture of HD–MA acted as the phase change energy storage material and the AC was used as the matrix supporting material. Activated carbon is a kind of inorganic supporting material, which has developed pore structure, strong adsorption, high mechanical strength, corrosion resistance and good thermal stability. As the supporting material, activated carbon was helpful to prevent the eutectics from leakage. The chemical structure and crystal phase structure of HD-MA/AC composites were tested by FT-IR and XRD. The microstructure of the composites was observed through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). It was found that the organic binary eutectics were adsorbed on the surface and inside by activated carbon. Thermal properties of the composites were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results of performance test demonstrated that the satisfactory sample CPCM1 melted at 42.38 °C with latent heat of 76.24 J/g and solidified at 38.32 °C with latent heat of 67.08 J/g. The test results of TGA indicated that the prepared composites of hexadecanol-myristic acid/activated carbon possessed great thermal stability and high reliability. It is predicted that the shape-stabilized HD-MA/AC composites have great potential for thermal energy storage.

In this work, a new composite phase change material (CPCM) with lauric-myristic acid (LA-MA) eutectic as PCM and activated carbon (AC) was used as supporting material with four different mass ratios of 5.0:5.0, 5.5:4.5, 6.0:4.0, and 6.5:3.5, respectively. The properties and microstructure of LA-MA/AC were analyzed by some characterization methods. The results show that the composite process of LA-MA eutectic and AC was a simple physical mixing and no new chemical bonds were found. The fusion and freeze temperature, enthalpy of the samples were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the residual weight of the samples was analyzed by thermogravimeter (TGA). It was shown that the fusion and freeze temperature of LA-MA eutectic separately were 32.42 ℃ and 33.63 ℃, and its fusion enthalpy and freeze enthalpy were 152.64 J/g and 148.8 J/g, respectively. TGA data shows that the thermal stability of LA-MA eutectic was obviously improved by adding AC as a support material. The results of this study can be available for reference to solar energy storage applications.