Reversible thermochromic performance of cresol red-boric acid system loaded on fibrous mesoporous silica microspheres coating material

In this study, the fibrous mesoporous silica F-SiO 2 was functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The reversible thermochromic composites of fibrous mesoporous silica (F-SiO 2 ) and amino group-modified fibrous mesoporous silica (F-SiO 2 -NH 2 ) microspheres loaded with cresol red-boric acid (CR-BA) were termed as S2 (F-SiO 2 /CR-BA) and SN2 (F-SiO2-NH 2 /CR-BA), respectively. The materials obtained were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. The fibrous morphology of this rigid carrier was maintained after loading with the CR-BA composite system. Owing to the APTES modification, the F-SiO 2 -NH 2 /CR-BA composites underwent more severe color changes than the F-SiO 2 /CR-BA composites. In addition, the F-SiO 2 -NH 2 /CR-BA composites can recover the original color in only 210 s, illustrating excellent reversibility.