Polyrotaxane based leakage-proof and injectable phase change materials with high melting enthalpy and adjustable transition temperature.

Abstract

In this work, a series of advanced phase change materials (PCMs) were fabricated by using polyrotaxane (PLR) as supports for encapsulating poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG). Phase-change enthalpy is mainly regulated by the PEG contents, whereas phase change temperature is controlled by PEG molecular weight. All PCMs have good form stabilities due to the good compatibility between PLR and PEG, and supporting ability of PLR. Given that the PLR support itself has phase-transition properties, the resulting composites have high phase change enthalpies (116.1–162.2 J g -1) and very high enthalpy efficiency (>100%). It is a green and efficient preparation method because the whole preparation process did not involve organic solvents, and the material was prepared at room temperature. In addition, the obtained PCMs can be easily extruded and re-molded, which provides technical premise and convenience for the large-scale applications. As a typical application example, the PCMs showed its significant advantages in simulated solid-state disk model temperature regulation, which fully demonstrates the practical and superior application value of the PCMs in the field of thermal management for electronic devices.