Scalable Flexible Phase Change Materials with a Swollen Polymer Network Structure for Thermal Energy Storage

3D porous structural materials are proved to be enticing candidates for the fabrication of high-performance organic phase change materials (PCMs), but the stringent fabrication process and poor processability greatly hampered their commercialization. Herein, flexible leakage-proof composite PCMs with pronounced comprehensive performance are fabricated by a scalable polymer swelling strategy without using any solvent, in which the paraffin wax (PW) segment is confined in a robust flexible 3D polymer network, giving rise to the composite PCMs with excellent form stability even at 160 degrees C, a high latent heat energy storage density of 133.6 J/g, and an outstanding thermal conductivity of up to similar to 5.11 W/mK. More importantly, the mass production of the flexible composite phase change fiber, film, and bulk products can be achieved by adopting mature processing technologies. These resultant composite PCMs exhibit promising thermal management ability to solve the overheating problem of electronics and high-efficiency solar-thermal energy conversion capacity.

Automated summary

The author fabricated flexible leakage-proof composite PCMs with excellent thermal conductivity and energy storage density using a polymer swelling strategy, which could be promising for addressing the overheating issue of electronics.