Polyrotaxane: New generation of sustainable, ultra-flexible, form-stable and smart phase change materials

The development of thermal energy storage materials is the most attractive strategy to harvest the solar energy and increase the energy utilization efficiency. Phase change materials (PCMs) have received much attention in this research field for several decades. Herein, we reported a new kind of PCM micro topological structure, design direction, and the ultra-flexible, form-stable and smart PCMs, polyrotaxane. The structure of polyrotaxane was fully confirmed by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared and X-ray diffraction. Then the tensile properties, thermal stability in the air, phase change energy storage and shape memory properties of the films were systematically analyzed. The results showed that all the mechanical performance, thermal stability in air and shape memory properties of polyrotaxanes were enhanced significantly compared to those of polyethylene oxide (PEO). The form stability at temperatures above the melting point of PEO significantly increased with the α-CD addition. Further with the high phase transition enthalpy and excellent cycle performance, the polyrotaxane films are therefore promising sustainable and advanced form-stable phase change materials for thermal energy storage. Notably, its ultra-high flexibility, remolding ability and excellent shape memory properties provide a convenient way for the intelligent heat treatment packaging of complex and flexible electronic devices. In addition, this is a totally novel insight for polyrotaxane application and new design method for form-stable PCMs.