Abstract
At present, research on the relationship of comb-like polymer phase change material structures and their heat storage performance is scarce. Therefore, this relationship from both micro and macro perspectives will be studied in this paper. In order to achieve a high phase change enthalpy, ethylene glycol segments were introduced between the vinyl and the alkyl side chains. A series of poly(mono/diethylene glycol n-tetradecyl ether vinyl ethers) (PC14EnVEs) (n = 1, 2) with various molecular weights were polymerized by living cationic polymerization. The results of PC14E1VE and PC14E2VE showed that the minimum number of carbon atoms required for side-chain crystallization were 7.7 and 7.2, which were lower than that reported in the literature. The phase change enthalpy 89 J/g (for poly(mono ethylene glycol n-tetradecyl ether vinyl ethers)) and 86 J/g (for poly(hexadecyl acrylate)) were approximately equal. With the increase of molecular weight, the melting temperature, the melting enthalpy, and the initial thermal decomposition temperature of PC14E1VE changed from 27.0 to 28.0 °C, from 95 to 89 J/g, and from 264 to 287 °C, respectively. When the number average molar mass of PC14EnVEs exceeded 20,000, the enthalpy values remained basically unchanged. The introduction of the ethylene glycol chain was conducive to the crystallization of alkyl side chains.
Highlights
Thermal energy storage including sensible heat and latent heat can bridge the thermal energy requirements and the supply in time and space [1,2,3]
The research mainly focuses on polymeric phase change materials, such as comb-like polymer Phase change materials (PCMs)
Comparing the above two studies, it was easy to find that the graft ratio and the heat enthalpy of comb-like polymeric phase change materials decreased with the increase of the rigidity of the main chains
Summary
Thermal energy storage including sensible heat and latent heat can bridge the thermal energy requirements and the supply in time and space [1,2,3]. When the side-chain length of poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride)-g-alkyl alcohol increased from 14 to 26, the phase transition temperature and the heat enthalpy were changed from 34.7 to 73.7 ◦ C and from 37.9 to 101.7 J/g, respectively. Comparing the above two studies, it was easy to find that the graft ratio and the heat enthalpy of comb-like polymeric phase change materials decreased with the increase of the rigidity of the main chains. We have successfully prepared poly(polyethylene glycol n-alkyl ether vinyl ether)s (PC16 E1 VE, PC16 E2 VE, PC18 E1 VE, PC18 E2 VE) as homopolymers comb-like phase change materials [17] Their phase transition enthalpies were all over 100 J/g, but the phase transition temperatures were a little high.
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