Novel protic ionic liquids-based phase change materials for high performance thermal energy storage systems

Masumeh Mokhtarpour; Ali Rostami; Hemayat Shekaari; Armin Zarghami; Saeid Faraji

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-45549-7

Novel protic ionic liquids-based phase change materials for high performance thermal energy storage systems

Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 2;13(1):18936. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-45549-7.

Authors

Masumeh Mokhtarpour¹, Ali Rostami², Hemayat Shekaari¹, Armin Zarghami³, Saeid Faraji¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
² Photonics and Nanocrystal Research Lab (PNRL), Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. rostami@tabrizu.ac.ir.
³ Photonics and Nanocrystal Research Lab (PNRL), Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) are an important class of innovative materials that considerably contribute to the effective use and conservation of solar energy and wasted heat in thermal energy storage systems (TES). The performance of TES can be improved by using environmentally friendly PCMs called ionic liquids (ILs) based on ethanolamines and fatty acids. The 2-hydroxyethylammonium, bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium, and tris(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium palmitate ILs, which function is in the temperature range of 30-100 °C and provide a safe and affordable capacity, are introduced in this study for the first time as PCMs. PCMs' chemical composition and microstructure were examined using fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. DSC was used to evaluate the ILs' latent heat of fusion and specific heat capacity, while TGA was used to establish their thermal stability. Finally, a home-made device with a PCMs (synthesized ILs) container cell and a commercial thermoelectric generator device to record the real-time voltage (V) was used to convert thermal energy into electrical energy.