A stable and visualized fatty acid-based phase transition material constructed by solid-phase molecular self-assembly for thermal management

Abstract

Fatty acids are excellent thermal management materials for thermal storage, release and preventing thermal runaway. However, the leakage of fatty acids leads to instability and prevents their application in thermal management. Herein, a stable and visualized fatty acid-based phase transition material P–S/PA was constructed through solid-state molecular self-assembly strategy from polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDA), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) and palmitic acid (PA). The electrostatic interaction between PDDA and SDBS and hydrophobic interaction between PA and SDBS can prevent PA leakage during phase transition, achieving stability. After 1000 cycles, the changes in the phase transition enthalpy (ΔH_M, ΔH_C) were less than 1%. The structural similarity also made P–S/PA phase transition visible, and the transmittance changed significantly from 0% to 68% during phase transition. In addition, P–S/PA can be remolded by hot-pressing without performance changes, showing temperature adjustability on varying the fatty acid carbon chain length. Thus, the stable and visualized P–S/PA fatty acid-based phase transition material constructed by solid-phase molecular self-assembly has promising application in thermal management.