Work

Colorful phase change material with intrinsic flexibility for personal thermal management

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Personal thermal management (PTM) technology, which predominantly utilizes phase change materials (PCMs) has emerged as an effective strategy for mitigating thermal stress. However, how to impart intrinsic flexibility and vibrant colors to meet practical application needs remains a topic that requires further research and effort. In this thesis, a novel intrinsically flexible PCM with notable shape stability, vivid and eye‐catching colors for PTM was synthesized. The flexible PCMs demonstrate a high phase change enthalpy (102.1 J/g), while maintaining thermal stability over 100 cycles. In addition, they can chemically bond with dye molecules, displaying vivid colors with extremely low dye usage (0.05 wt%). The integration of PCMs with fabrics using a hot press method produces a fabric that closely conforms to the human body and exhibits strong colorfastness, demonstrating significant potential for thermal management in specialized garments.

Source: AIChE Journal

DOI: 10.1002/aic.18856

Authors: Caishuo Hu, Zhaoying Jia, Linhai Zhu, Yuang Zhang, Shufen Zhang, Bingtao Tang

Institutions: Dalian University of Technology, State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals

Language: English

Topic: Phase Change Materials Research

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Dalian Science and Technology Innovation Fund