Breakthrough in Energy Storage of Silicone Oil based Phase Change Materials
In the field of building energy efficiency, silicone oil is rewriting thermal management rules. By encapsulating tetradecane in silicone oil microcapsules, an intelligent temperature control material with a phase transition temperature of 26 ℃ has been developed. This structural innovation originates from the low surface tension of silicone oil (21mN/m), which can keep the phase change core material spherical and increase the thermal conductivity efficiency to 2.3 times that of traditional materials.
In the curtain wall system of Shanghai center Building, where silicone oil based phase change materials are used, the fluctuation range of indoor temperature in summer is reduced from 8 ℃ to 3 ℃. Economic analysis shows that although the cost of silicone oil based materials has increased by 15%, the energy consumption of air conditioning has decreased by 28%, and the investment payback period is only 3.2 years. More cutting-edge research is exploring the composite of silicone oil and graphene to develop a new type of energy storage material with a phase change latent heat of 240 J/g.