A novel shape-stabilized PCM: Electrospun ultrafine fibers based on lauric acid/polyethylene terephthalate composite

Recently, ultrafine fibers of PCM/polymer composites have been developed as a novel shape-stabilized polymer-matrix phase change material (PCM) via electrospinning technique. in this study, ultrafine fibers of lauric acid/polyethylene terephthalate (LA/PET) composite (1:1, w/w) were successfully prepared and characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and tensile testing. The results indicated that the electrospun fibers showed smooth surfaces and cylindrical shape with diameters ranging from several tens to several hundreds nanometer, and the latent heat of fusion of the fibers is about 70.76 J/g. Although the tensile properties of the electrospun composite fibers were lower than that of the electrospun pure PET fibers, they showed suitable and competent tensile strength for the potential applications in solar energy storage and thermo-regulating textile. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.