Microfluidic fabrication of compound microfibers encapsulating nano-enhanced phase change material (PCM) for thermal regulation

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This study presents a microfluidic approach for fabrication of compound phase change fibers (CPCFs) encapsulating nano-enhanced phase change material (PCM), RT25, for thermal regulation. The produced fibers are flexible and have strong compatibility and durable stability, with their size and the proportion of PCM can be precisely controlled by the microfluidic approach. Especially, a hydroxy surface modification method was used to uniformly disperse SiO2 nanoparticles into the RT25, aiming to enhance the thermal regulation performance of the CPCFs. Thermal performance test was conducted and it indicated that, compared with the compound phase change fiber (CPCF) with pure RT25, the CPCF incorporated with 2 wt% SiO2 nanoparticles presented a notable increase in thermal conductivity by 46.52 % and 45.51 % for solid-state and liquid-state enclosed PCM with a limited reduction in both melting and solidification enthalpies by 9.21 % and 10.1 %, respectively. Moreover, an experiment simulating the heat dissipation scenario of the electronic cabinet under intermittent running with short operation and long rest was conducted by using the CPCFs. It showed that adding SiO2 nanoparticles can improve the heat absorption process (solid-to-liquid phase) via the CPCFs with a smaller temperature increase (i.e., the maximum temperature of simulated inner electronic device in the cabinet for the repeated intermittent running) and it is also able to make the CPCFs renew (liquid-to-solid phase) more quickly and ready for heat absorption process in the next cycle. These CPCFs offer a promising alternative for more efficient and sustainable thermal management of the electrical/electronic equipment.