Investigation of Lactones as Innovative Bio-Sourced Phase Change Materials for Latent Heat Storage

Abstract

In the presented work, five bio-based and bio-degradable cyclic esters, i.e. lactones, have been investigated as possible phase change materials for applications in latent heat storage systems. Commercial natural lactones such as ε-caprolactone and γ-valerolactone were easily purchased through chemical suppliers, while 1,2-campholide, oxa-adamantanone and dibenzochromen-6-one were synthesized through Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. The compounds were characterized with respect to attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy, in order to confirm their chemical structures and identity. Subsequently, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry were used to measure the phase change temperatures, enthalpies of fusion, degradation temperatures, as well to estimate the degree of supercooling. The lactones showed a wide range of phase change temperatures from −40 °C to 290 °C, making them a high interest for both low and high temperature latent heat storage applications, given the lack of organic phase change materials covering phase change temperature ranges below 0 °C and above 80 °C. However, low enthalpies of fusion, high degrees of supercooling and thermal degradations at low temperatures were registered for all samples, rendering them unsuitable as phase change materials.

A cross-scale ‘material-component-system’ framework for transition towards zero-carbon buildings and districts with low, medium and high-temperature phase change materials

“…By chemically reacting with primary linear alcohols through Fischer esterification, the biobased PCM's enthalpy exceeds 190 J/g with melting temperatures between 20 and 50 • C. In terms of the biobased PCMs with high melting temperature, lactones have been employed with wider range of phase change temperature. Ravotti et al (Ravotti et al, 2019) Enhancement on thermo-physical properties of biobased PCMs has also been investigated in the academia. Jeong et al (Jeong et al, 2013) adopted exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets to enhance the thermal conductivity from 0.154 to 0.577 W/(m⋅K) with better thermal resistance and lower subcooling than the pure bio-based PCMs, whereas the flammable property of the biobased PCMs is higher than conventional organic PCMs.…”

Surface Modification of Cellulose Nanocrystals with Lactone Monomers via Plasma-Induced Polymerization and Their Application in ABS Nanocomposites

“…The monomers’ ε-caprolactone and δ-decalactone (see Figure 1 ) belong to the group of lactones which are a class of esters that can be found in nature in the Cryptocarya massoia plant and castor oil [ 15 , 16 ]. These can be formed spontaneously by intramolecular reactions of hydroxy fatty acids and by oxidation reactions of their corresponding cyclic ketones [ 15 ].…”

“…These can be formed spontaneously by intramolecular reactions of hydroxy fatty acids and by oxidation reactions of their corresponding cyclic ketones [ 15 ]. They are widely used in the food industry and as precursors to produce bio-based and biodegradable polyesters such as polycaprolactone (PCL) [ 16 ]. Therefore, the study for its application in the surface modification of CNC represents a sustainable option.…”

Consistent DSC and TGA Methodology as Basis for the Measurement and Comparison of Thermo-Physical Properties of Phase Change Materials

“…They constitute the modification of PCM through the introduction of additives to overcome undesired properties, for example flammability in organic PCM [ 4 ], enhancing the thermal conductivity [ 5 ], specific heat capacity [ 6 ], or segregation in salt hydrates [ 7 , 8 ]. In addition, the development and integration of bio-based PCM [ 9 , 10 , 11 ] into several applications such as thermal regulation of buildings [ 12 ] or clothing [ 13 ].…”