Microfluidic Fabrication and Thermal Properties of Microencapsulated N-Hexadecane with a Hybrid Polymer Shell for Thermal Energy Storage.

In this study, a strategy based on microfluidic method is developed toward a facile fabrication of phase change material microcapsules with uniform and controllable particle size as well as high encapsulation ratio and thermal stability. N-hexadecane, as a phase change material, was successfully encapsulated by a hybrid shell of poly (methyl methacrylate) and polyurea. The fabrication process includes the following three steps: (1) Formation of oil-in-water droplets with uniform micron size in the microfluidic chip; (2) formation of the first polyurea shell to encapsulate droplets by fast interfacial polymerization when the droplets pass through the coiled transport microchannel; and (3) completion of free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate inside the microspheres by heating to form the hybrid microcapsule shell.