Towards Sustainable Energy Storage: The Potential of anhydrous Pickering Emulsions

Abstract

As the global demand for renewable energy accelerates, finding reliable and efficient energy storage solutions becomes increasingly essential to address the challenge of intermittency on energy generation, as in the case of solar and wind energy (1). One promising approach involves the use of emulsions containing phase change materials (PCMs), systems that can effectively store and release thermal energy during phase transitions (2). Despite their potential, PCM-based emulsions face key challenges, such as long-term stability and ensuring processability in practical applications. Our study introduces an innovative approach by developing and characterizing water-free Pickering emulsions, in which paraffin (with a melting point of 58-60°C) acts as the PCM dispersed as droplets, while PEG serves as the continuous phase, and are stabilized using solid silica nanoparticles.