Poly(ethylene glycol)s grafted celluloses as solid-solid phase change materials for different thermal energy storage application temperatures and through isophorone linkage

At present, a series of poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) are grafted to a microcrystalline cellulose material to employ them as solid-solid phase change materials (SSPCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES). The variations in the application temperatures are supplied with different molecular weight PEGs in such an extent. PEGs are grafted to a cellulose (PEG-g-C) backbone through urethane linkages formed by using isophorone diisocyanate for the first time. PEG-g-C samples are characterized by employing advanced surface analytical techniques such as FTIR-ATR, SEM, and POM. FTIR-ATR, SEM, and POM results of these PEGs-cellulose composites show that these composites are synthesized, successfully. Furthermore, TGA and DSC are performed to investigate the thermal properties of these composites. The TES property of the PEG-g-C samples such as phase transition temperature, enthalpy, and specific heat capacity (C-p) is investigated by using DSC. DSC curves indicate that the PEG-g-C samples have considerable thermal storage density at the corresponding phase transitions (28.0-164.1 J g(-1)during heating and 28.3-146.5 J g(-1)during cooling). In addition, phase transition temperatures are recorded as - 3.4 degrees C and 54.0 degrees C during heating and - 4.9 degrees C and 38.0 degrees C during cooling as minimums and maximums, respectively. As the result, PEG-g-C samples are found as SSPCMs for potential TES applications.