Physical, Spectroscopic and Thermal Characterization of Biofield treated Myristic acid

Abstract

Myristic acid has been extensively used for fabrication of phase change materials for thermal energy storage applications. The objective of present research was to investigate the influence of biofield treatment on physical and thermal properties of myristic acid. The study was performed in two groups (control and treated). The control group remained as untreated, and biofield treatment was given to treated group. The control and treated myristic acid were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Laser particle size analyzer. XRD results revealed alteration in intensity of peaks as well as significant increase in crystallite size (27.07%) of treated myristic acid with respect to control. DSC study showed increase in melting temperature of treated myristic acid as compared to control. Nevertheless, significant change (10.16%) in latent heat of fusion (ΔH) was observed in treated myristic acid with respect to control. TGA analysis of treated myristic acid showed less weight loss (31.33%) as compared to control sample (60.49%). This may be due to increase in thermal stability of treated myristic acid in comparison with control. FT-IR results showed increase in frequency of –CH2 and C=O stretching vibrations, probably associated with enhanced bond strength and force constant of the respective bonds. The particle size analyzer showed significant decrease in average particle size (d50 and d99) of treated myristic acid with respect to control. Overall, the results showed significant alteration in physical, spectroscopic and thermal properties of myristic acid. The enhanced crystallite size, and thermal stability of treated myristic acid showed that treated myristic acid could be used as phase change material for thermal energy storage applications.