Flexible Polyethylene glycol/Polyvinylpyrrolidone Composite Phase Change Fibres: preparation, characterization, and thermal conductivity enhancement

Abstract Currently, electrospinning technology is the most used spinning technology. However, electrospinning exhibits low production rate and safety hazards, which has led to the development of the novel centrifugal spinning technology to extrude phase change fibres from composite solutions. The flexible composite phase change fibres based on Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were prepared by centrifugal spinning. Moreover, carbon nanotubes acted as thermally conductive fillers to enhance the thermal conductivity of flexible composite phase change fibres. The microstructures of the fibres were observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to determine the thermal properties of the fibres. The results showed that the concentrations of PEG and PVP had different influences on the diameter and smoothness of fibres, and the energy storage effect increased with the increasing PEG content. In summary, flexible composite phase change fibres based on PEG and PVP have very good application prospects for thermal insulation.