Thermal fingerprint of silica encapsulated phase change nanoparticles

This paper describes a new type of silica microspheres that contain a panel of phase change nanoparticles (Field's alloy, indium, tin or lead-tin eutectic alloy). The thermophysical properties of solid-liquid phase change nanoparticles, i.e., composition-dependent melting temperatures, sharp melting peaks, and large thermal scan range, allow construction of a large number of silica microspheres that have thermally distinguishable patterns of melting temperatures.