Form-stable phase change materials based on delignified wood flour for thermal management of buildings

In this work, form-stable phase change composites (PCCs) was prepared based on wood flour (WF), the by-product of timber industry, via delignification and impregnation with myristyl alcohol (MA). After delignification, the micro-channel structure inherited from wood was still maintained and unblocked in delignified wood flour (dWF), which are beneficial to accommodate and restrict solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs). The dWF/MA PCCs exhibit excellent leakage-proof properties even at temperature much higher than the melting point of MA and high phase change enthalpy. The dWF/MA PCCs were further used to fabricate composite boards by bonding with urea–formaldehyde (UF) resin. The temperature management effect of dWF/MA/UF boards was tentatively demonstrated through constructing building models and measuring the inner temperature-time curves. This work provides a promising way to fully utilize and functionalize WF and broad its application in energy-related areas.