Preparation of 1-dodecanol microcapsules with cellulose nanofibers-modified melamine-formaldehyde resin as a potential phase change material

A series of microencapsulated phase change materials (microPCMs) are synthesized by encapsulating 1-dodecanol into cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) modified melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin through in situ polymerization. The chemical structure and crystallography of the microcapsules are characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) images show that the obtained microcapsules are regularly spherical with smooth surface and an average diameter about 1∼3 μm. The cracking ratio test indicates that the addition of CNFs largely enhances the mechanical strength of the microcapsules, and the CNFs/MF-microPCMs (with 3.4 wt% CNFs) have a phase change enthalpy of 100.4 J g−1. Furthermore, the simulation result demonstrates that the indoor temperature modulation ability of CNFs/MF-microPCMs model house is 4.2 °C, which is more than that of model house without microPCMs under room temperature. These results indicate that CNFs/MF-microPCMs are potential candidates for thermoregulating applications.