Phase change materials

Phase change materials (PCM) can serve as a heat reservoir in walls, fibers and coatings, thus helping regulate the temperature inside vehicles, buildings and people wearing them. The main challenge for their utilization is the need for mechanically robust, high latent heat systems. This project developed a series of polymeric systems that can efficiently and reversibly undergo phase transitions around room temperature and exhibit stimuli-responsive changes in optical transparency. The volume changes associated with the phase change can be used to produce thermo-responsive valves for thermal batteries.

This project was funded by the NSF through award # 1662675.

Details are here.