Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2025
06:24
High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
6.4K
Tough and sustainable solid-solid phase change materials achieved via reversible crosslinking for thermal management
Fubin Luo1, Yaofei Xu1, Dongliang Wang2
1Engineering Research Center of Polymer Green Recycling of Ministry of Education, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, People's Republic of China. luofubin@fjnu.edu.cn.
Materials Horizons
|March 31, 2025
Summary
Novel solid-solid phase change materials (SSPCMs) overcome leakage and rigidity issues using a vitrimeric system. These sustainable SSPCMs offer enhanced thermal energy storage, shape memory, and self-healing capabilities.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Sustainable Energy
Background:
- Phase change materials (PCMs) are crucial for thermal energy storage but suffer from liquid leakage and poor mechanical properties.
- Existing PCMs often lack the durability and stability required for widespread practical applications.
- Addressing these limitations is key to unlocking the full potential of PCMs in thermal management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel, tough, and sustainable solid-solid phase change materials (SSPCMs).
- To overcome the inherent challenges of liquid leakage and solid rigidity in traditional PCMs.
- To engineer SSPCMs with enhanced thermal energy storage, shape memory, and self-healing functionalities.
Main Methods:
- A carboxyl-epoxy group reactive system was designed to create a reversible vitrimeric structure via crosslinking.
- The mechanical properties, phase stability, and thermal properties of the synthesized SSPCMs were evaluated.
- The influence of boron nitride (BN) addition on thermal conductivity was investigated.
Main Results:
- The developed SSPCMs demonstrated excellent phase stability, high tensile strength (13.5 MPa), and elongation at break (45%).
- The materials exhibited a high phase transition enthalpy, reaching up to 92.01 J g-1.
- The SSPCMs showcased smart shape memory effects, recyclability, and self-healing properties due to reversible network rearrangement.
- Enhanced thermal conductivity was achieved by incorporating BN, maintaining toughness and other functionalities.
Conclusions:
- The novel vitrimeric SSPCMs effectively address the limitations of conventional PCMs, offering superior mechanical robustness and stability.
- The materials possess excellent thermal energy storage capacity, coupled with advanced features like shape memory and self-healing.
- The incorporation of BN further enhances thermal conductivity, positioning these SSPCMs as promising candidates for advanced thermal management solutions.
Related Concept Videos
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
16.6K
Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
16.6K
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
12.2K
Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
12.2K
02:31Phase Transitions
18.6K
Whether solid, liquid, or gas, a substance's state depends on the order and arrangement of its particles (atoms, molecules, or ions). Particles in the solid pack closely together, generally in a pattern. The particles vibrate about their fixed positions but do not move or squeeze past their neighbors. In liquids, although the particles are closely spaced, they are randomly arranged. The position of the particles are not fixed—that is, they are free to move past their neighbors to...
18.6K
01:19Phase Changes
4.1K
Phase transitions play an important theoretical and practical role in the study of heat flow. In melting or fusion, a solid turns into a liquid; the opposite process is freezing. In evaporation, a liquid turns into a gas; the opposite process is condensation.
A substance melts or freezes at a temperature called its melting point and boils or condenses at its boiling point. These temperatures depend on pressure. High pressure favors the denser form of the substance, so typically, high pressure...
A substance melts or freezes at a temperature called its melting point and boils or condenses at its boiling point. These temperatures depend on pressure. High pressure favors the denser form of the substance, so typically, high pressure...
4.1K
01:19Phase Diagram
5.7K
The phase of a given substance depends on the pressure and temperature. Thus, plots of pressure versus temperature showing the phase in each region provide considerable insights into the thermal properties of substances. Such plots are known as phase diagrams. For instance, in the phase diagram for water (Figure 1), the solid curve boundaries between the phases indicate phase transitions (i.e., temperatures and pressures at which the phases coexist).
5.7K
02:39Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
17.0K
The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase...
17.0K