Structure and thermal performance of poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride)-g-alkyl alcohol comb-like copolymeric phase change materials

A series of comb-like copolymeric phase change materials (SMA-g-CnOH) composed of poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (SMA) and 1-alcohols CnOH with n = 14, 16, 18 or 26, respectively, was synthesized through grafting reaction. The structure and thermal properties of SMA-g-CnOH were investigated by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). The DSC analysis indicates that SMA-g-CnOH exhibit good structure stability with phase change enthalpies changing from 37.9 to 110.7 J g−1. The results showed that the low thermal efficiency of SMA-g-CnOH was ascribed to the small CH2 segments of side chains participating in the assembled structure of side-chain crystallites. Their advantageous structural stability and thermal performance of SMA-g-CnOH were favorable for phase change materials in the thermal energy storage systems. Additionally, the influence of side-chain length on thermal properties of SMA-g-CnOH also was discussed in detail in combination with the published results.