Synthesis and characterization of thermochromic energy-storage microcapsule and application to fabric

In this paper, 3,3-bis-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-dimethylaminophthalide, 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, and different mole ratios of binary eutectic mixture of aliphatic alcohol (myristyl alcohol and cetyl alcohol) were selected as chromophoric reagents, delomorphic reagents, and solvents of thermochromic energy-storage materials (TEMs), respectively. The thermochromic temperatures of TEMs were investigated according to Schroeder’s theory. The optimal TEMs with proper thermochromic temperature were chosen as the core material, and melamine–formaldehyde (M–F) resin served as the wall shell. The prepared microencapsulated thermochromic energy-storage materials (microTEMs) were characterized on the morphology, particle size, size distribution determination, and thermal properties. The results indicated that the spherical surfaces of microTEMs were smooth and compact. The diameters of microTEMs were found in the range (0.9–4 μm) under the stirring speed of 10,000 rpm. Moreover, the microTEMs had good energy-storage capacity and thermal stability. In the end, the prepared microTEMs were added to cotton/polyester fabric by coating method to develop textile materials with thermochromic and energy-storage dual property.