Green assembled metallic copper nanoparticles for improving thermal conductivity of fatty acid PCMs coated polyester fabric

Phase change materials (PCMs) can be applied on textiles for thermal management during absorption or release of thermal energy in a form of latent heat during phase transitions between solid–solid or solid–liquid phases over a narrow temperature range. Moreover, most organic PCMs have low thermal conductivity which causes the lower heat storing and releasing rates during fusion and solidification processes subsequently limits the applicability in practice. In this research, eutectic of fatty acid PCMs were applied and stabilized on the polyester fabric via exhaustion method and vinyl acrylic resin coating. Further, thermal conductivity of the fabric treated PCMs was improved by in situ green synthesis of metallic copper nanoparticles on the polyester fabric. For this purpose, lauric and myristic acids, copper acetate, ascorbic acid and Keliab solution were used as fatty acid PCMs, metal salt, green reducing agent and natural pH adjusting, respectively. The treated fabric indicates melting and crystallization temperatures at 29.81 and 35.50 °C with corresponding enthalpies of 39.09 and 43.77 J/g, respectively. The presence of copper nanoparticles into the PCMs was confirmed by FESEM images, EDX, mapping and XRD pattern. Thermal conductivity of incorporated PCMs with copper nanoparticles was considerably higher than the PCMs without copper nanoparticles. Hence, this method can be used as a simple, green and cost-effective approach for thermal management of the textile fabrics with an enhancement in thermal conductivity behavior.

Green synthesis, Metallic copper nanoparticles, Fatty acid phase change materials, Polyester fabric, Thermal conductivity