Analysis of thermal properties of gypsum materials incorporated with microencapsulated phase change materials based on silica

Microencapsulated phase change materials (MePCMs) were prepared in this study through sol-gel synthesis; these materials consisted of SiO2 as shell and paraffin as core materials, and were subsequently incorporated in gypsum. Further, this study examined the thermal regulation performance of gypsum materials. Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed the encapsulation of the paraffin with SiO2 shell. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) results showed that the microcapsules obtained at a pH of 2.5 exhibit a regular spherical structure, excellent dispersibility, and compact surface structure. The MePCMs were found to reveal high thermal performance and encapsulation efficiency even in this synthetic condition. This is because the SiO2 shell with its high compactness imparts high thermal stability and a good anti-osmosis performance to the microcapsules. Further, gypsum materials achieved high mechanical strength, compactness, thermal conductivity, and a good thermal regulation performance with the weight ratio of MePCMs at 10 wt%. The results showed that the MePCMs in the gypsum matrix exhibited advantageous application prospects for the thermal regulation in buildings.