Photo-induced rapid polymerization of cellulose-based composite phase change materials for thermal management

Phase change materials (PCMs) have demonstrated significant potential in thermal management owing to their substantial thermal energy storage capacity and no need for additional energy consumption. Nevertheless, achieving efficient manufacturing of PCMs with high latent heat storage and superior shape stability remains a formidable challenge. In order to achieve rapid preparation of stabilized phase change material, we design a photo initiated copolymerization crosslinking strategy inside phase change material which combine encapsulation methods of graft copolymerization and porous material adsorption. Compared to traditional thermal polymerization reactions that require heating for several hours, this strategy only requires 20 min of ultraviolet light irradiation. The composite shows excellent enthalpy of 152.64 J/g benefited by the solid-solid phase change material matrix and absorbed octadecane (ODA). Addition of nickel foam (NF) provided a thermal conductivity of 1.094 W/m·K which was 270 % higher than pure composite phase change material. Due to the superior thermal energy storage capacity and thermal conductivity of composites phase change material, the surface temperature of battery in use decreased 4 °C. This work provides a novel approach for large-scale production of high-performance form-stable phase change materials which shows great applying potential in heat management of battery.