Synthesis and thermal properties of cross-linked poly(acrylonitrile-co-itaconate)/polyethylene glycol as novel form-stable change material

In this paper, a novel form-stable phase change materials (FSPCMs) of cross-linked poly(acrylonitrile-co-itaconate) (P(AN-co-IA))/polyethylene glycol (PEG) blend was prepared successfully. And it was systematically characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized optical microscopy (POM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Thermogravimetric (TG) and thermal conductivity measurements. FTIR analysis indicated that the cross-linked network had been synthesized. The results of DSC analysis showed that the cross-linked FSPCMs had good thermal reliability and heat storage durability after 1000 thermal cycles. The phase change temperature of the cross-linked FSPCMs was in the range of 23–53   °C and the phase change enthalpy was around 118.5   J/g, respectively. The XRD results indicated that PEG units in the cross-linked FSPCMs had the same crystal structure as the pure PEG. And it was observed that the PEG was dispersed into the network of the solid cross-linked P(AN-co-IA) by investigation of the structure of the FSPCMs using a SEM. TGA results confirmed that the initial degradation temperature of the cross-linked FSPCMs was 249   °C, which proves that cross-linked FSPCMs appeared good thermal stability. These results indicated that cross-linked FSPCMs could be considered as latent heat storage material for thermal energy storage applications.