Recyclable low-temperature phase change microcapsules for cold storage

Jiaojiao Zhao; Jinling Long; Yongqiang Du; Jiankui Zhou; Yadong Wang; Zipeng Miao; Yingliang Liu; Shengang Xu; Shaokui Cao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.037

Recyclable low-temperature phase change microcapsules for cold storage

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Mar 22:564:286-295. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.037. Epub 2019 Dec 10.

Authors

Jiaojiao Zhao¹, Jinling Long¹, Yongqiang Du¹, Jiankui Zhou¹, Yadong Wang¹, Zipeng Miao¹, Yingliang Liu², Shengang Xu³, Shaokui Cao⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Henan Key Laboratory of Advanced Nylon Materials and Application, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: liuylxn@zzu.edu.cn.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Henan Key Laboratory of Advanced Nylon Materials and Application, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Henan Key Laboratory of Advanced Nylon Materials and Application, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: caoshaokui@zzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31918196
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.037

Abstract

Recyclable low-temperature phase change microcapsules (LTPCMs) have the potential applications in the short-distance cold chain transportation due to their reliable reusability in cold storage. Herein, LTPCMs are synthesized via in-situ suspension copolymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate in absence of harm substances, providing the non-crosslinking copolymer shells. n-Dodecane, n-tridecane and n-tetradecane, inducing the microphase separation of non-crosslinking copolymers, are successfully encapsulated to achieve n-do-LTPCMs, n-tri-LTPCMs and n-tetra-LTPCMs, which respectively bear the high phase change enthalpy of 110.53 J·g^-1 at -8.69 °C, 38.33 J·g^-1/93.71 J·g^-1 at -17.61 °C/-4.96 °C and 166.79 J·g^-1 at 8.59 °C and subsequently show the cold-discharging periods of 30 min, 40 min and 120 min. The multiple circulation of cold-discharging process indicates the excellent recyclability for cold storage owing to their unchanged cold-discharging period. Especially, n-tetra-LTPCM-65 bears the best comprehensive cold-storing performance in all the previously reported LTPCMs, such as narrow cold-discharging temperature range of 3-4 °C, long cold-discharging period of 69-120 min and low cold-discharging capacity of 33.4 J·g^-1·K^-1. This work successfully provided the recyclable LTPCMs for cold storage in the short-distance cold chain transportation.

Keywords: Cold chain transportation; Cold storage; In-situ suspension copolymerization; Low-temperature phase change microcapsule; Recyclability.