Synthesis of paraffin-based phase change energy storage microcapsules and their application in thermal regulation of photovoltaic panels

To address the issue of reduced photovoltaic conversion efficiency and heat waste caused by excessive temperatures under sunlight, this study developed a cooling system (CTW-MPCM) that combines paraffin-based phase-change energy storage microcapsules with waste heat recovery for cooling and thermal energy recovery in photovoltaic panels. The results show that by adjusting the irradiance intensity (400 W/m 2  ~ 800 W/m 2 ) with a solar simulator, the PV panels with the CTW-MPCM system demonstrated an average temperature reduction of 14.6 °C ~ 23.3 °C on the front surface and 24.3 °C ~ 30.6 °C on the back, with a photoelectric conversion efficiency increase of 5.07–13.84 %. At 800 W/m 2 , the thermal recovery efficiency was 82.1 %. The system maintained high cooling performance even under real environmental conditions and the heat transfer process of the system was simulated at both macro and micro scales using finite element analysis. This work combines phase-change energy storage microcapsules with a waste heat recovery system, solving the common leakage problem of traditional phase-change materials and providing a more efficient solution for thermal regulation and waste heat recovery in photovoltaic panels.