Synthesis of high latent heat lauric acid/silica microcapsules by interfacial polymerization method for thermal energy storage

•Preparation of lauric acid/silica microcapsules by interfacial polymerization.•The factors affecting the latent heat and encapsulation efficiency of microcapsules were studied.•Fourier transformation infrared spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer results indicate that the core and shell of the microcapsules are physically recombined.•Differential scanning calorimetry and Thermogravimetric analysis characterization shows that the microcapsules have good thermal stability and thermal properties.•The microcapsules prepared this paper have higher latent heat and encapsulation efficiency.