Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 64 (2000) 37}44 Preparation of polyethylene}para$n compound as a form-stable solid-liquid phase change material Ye Hong*, Ge Xin-shi Department of Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China Abstract In this paper, the preparation of a form-stable phase change material (form-stable PCM)}polyethylene}para$n compound (PPC) is described. This kind of form-stable PCM is a compound which consists of a para$n as a dispersed phase change material and a high density polyethylene (HDPE) as a supporting material. Several kinds of HDPEs and para$ns are evaluated as candidate materials for PPC as a form-stable PCM. The structure of the prepared PPC is analyzed by using scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and its latent heat is given by DSC method.  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Phase change material; Form-stable PCM; Polyethylene}para$n compound; Thermal energy storage 1. Introduction Energy needs for a wide variety of applications are time dependent, and so are some energy resources. Consequently, the storage of energy is necessary to meet these energy needs. Among the di!erent methods of thermal energy storage, the latent energy storage is one of the most attractive. It is able to store and to release very large quantities of energy per weight of material, resulting in less volume to store the energy required by the system. In addition, the temperature remains nearly constant during * Corresponding author.. E-mail addresses: yehong@mail.ustc.edu.cn (Ye Hong), xsge@ustc.edu.cn (Ge Xin-shi). 0927-0248/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 2 7 - 0 2 4 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 4 1 - 6