Determining influences of silver nanoparticles on morphology and thermal properties of electrospun polyacrylonitrile-based form-stable phase change composite fibrous membranes loading fatty acid ester/eutectics

Electrospun polyacrylonitrile/sliver nanoparticles (PAN/Ag-NPs) nanofibrous membranes were fabricated as supporting materials by direct dispersing Ag-NPs additives into PAN solutions. And then a series of form-stable phase change composite fibrous membranes (PCCFMs) were developed by physical adsorbing three different kinds of solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) with the melting temperatures of about 20-33 degrees C including butyl stearate (BS), capric-myristic acid binary eutectic (CA-MA), capric- palmitic-stearic acid ternary eutectic (CA-PA-SA) into electrospun PAN/Ag-NPs supporting membranes. The morphology and thermal properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimeter and measurement of melting and freezing times, respectively. DSC curves suggested that melting peak temperatures and enthalpies of the PAN/Ag-NPs-based form- stable PCCFMs were in the range of about 23.47-29.31 degrees C and 138.1-156.7 kJkg(-1), respectively. Melting/freezing times were significantly shorten by about 29%/32% and 44%/52% for the BS/PAN/Ag-NPs5 and BS/PAN/Ag-NPs10 form-stable PCCFMs owing to the addition of Ag-NPs.