Advanced Sustainable Polymers Lab

We developed a new kind of PCM micro topological structure, design method, and realize the ultra-flexible & high-performance form stable PCMs. We further verified that PLR is an excellent carrier for poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) phase change materials. Typically, a series of advanced PCMs were fabricated by using PLR as supports for encapsulating PEG. Given that the PLR support itself has phase-transition properties, the resulting composites have high phase change enthalpies and very high enthalpy efficiency. To increase the thermal conductivity of the leakage-proof PLR/PEG based PCM, different contents of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), MXene or Boron nitride (BN) were blended with PLR/PEG matrix. The results show that GNP, MXene and BN can significantly improve the thermal conductivity of PCM composites. Furthermore, to improve the flame retardancy, biomass phytic acid was selected to modify PLR as flame retardant PCMs. These improvements above solve the main problems of PEG based PCMs, thus making PLR-PEG-based materials a good candidate for use as thermal energy storage materials in industrial applications.

Gradual precipitation method was used to generate PLA aerogels with adjustable morphology and micropores. It is new pathway and phase separation methos for the 3D porous materials preparation. The materials were potential environmentally used as oil absorbents and as oil–water separation materials (Application 1). We developed a foaming-agent free method to fabricate PLA porous materials. To meet the mechanical property requirements of bone tissue engineering scaffolds, the PLA porous materials with high porosity were further modified by gelatin. The mechanical strength may effectively match the requirement of human trabecular bone. In addition, surface gelatin coating will improve the biocompatibility of the materials. Therefore, the materials were expected to be used in bone tissue engineering scaffolds (Application 2). The highly porous PLA can be applied as the supporter materials for the form stable PCMs (Application 3). We further put forward the concept of foam alloy or aerogel alloy  and the new design idea of PCM supporter materials to achieve comprehensive performance improvement.

1. Utilizing highly porous mycelium based materials as a sustainable supporter for form-stable organic PCMs, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.113373

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