Fabrication of thermal energy storage wood composite based on shape-stable phase change material

Abstract

In this work, a novel phase change energy storage wood (PCESW) was fabricated by impregnating solid-solid phase change materials (SSPCM) into delignified wood. The SSPCM was prepared by using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 1500 as the thermal energy storage ingredient, hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) as the cross-linking agent and castor oil (CO) as the skeleton material. The chemical composition and structure of SSPCM and PCESW were confirmed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); the crystalline structure of PEG and SSPCM were tested by x-ray diffraction (XRD); the microstructure of PCESW was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM); thermal properties and durability of SSPCM and PCESW were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The results showed that: (1) the porosity of wood was improved obviously after delignification and SSPCM mainly distributed in wood vessels; (2) PCESW-15 exhibited superior temperature-regulating performance and thermal stability; (3) PCESW-15 presented outstanding shape stability and no liquid leakage occurred during the phase transition. The great thermal performance of PCESWs suggested that it can be used as energy-saving building materials for indoor temperature regulating.