Preparation and properties of shape-stabilized phase change material cellulose benzoate-g-polyoxyethylene (2) hexadecyl ether with potential for thermal energy storage

It is a worldwide challenge to efficiently use renewable resources to solve the current energy shortage. The existing cellulose-based material is incapable of proper power storage. In this study, a series of cellulose benzoate-g-polyoxyethylene (2) hexadecyl ether (CB-g-E2C16) solid-solid phase change materials were synthesized with cellulose as the skeleton and polyoxyethylene (2) hexadecyl ether (E2C16) as a functional side chain. The skeleton cellulose and benzoyl chloride restrict the free movement of the molecular chains of E2C16 above the phase transition temperature, leading to a solid-solid phase change. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were performed to investigate the chemical structures. The thermal energy-storage properties, thermal reliability and thermal stability of the CB-g-E2C16 were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry (TG) methods. The analysis results indicated that the E2C16 chains were successfully grafted onto the cellulose benzoate (CB) backbone and the copolymers exhibited typical solid-solid phase transition behavior. The enthalpy and degree of substitution of graft copolymers CB-g-E2C16 could be adjusted by changing the feeding ratio of the raw materials, reaction temperature and post-processing methods of CB. TG analysis results showed that the CB-g-E2C16 copolymers possessed good thermostability and they keep their stability up to 278celcius. Compared with pure cellulose, CB-g-E2C16 copolymers could be dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and most of them could be dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide.