Preparation and characterization of structurally variable inorganic nanofibrous mats with large surface area for intelligent temperature regulation textiles

Hierarchical structure and large specific surface area are vital for the substrate materials of form-stable phase change materials (FSPCMs) incoporated within intelligent temperature reulation textiles. Microemulsion electrospinning is an efficient method to prepare hierarchically porous substrate materials. Herein, structurally variable TiO2/SiO2/C (TSC) nanofibers were fabricated via microemulsion electrospinning followed by calcination as the substrate materials of FSPCMs. The interior structure, specific surface area, thermal energy storage and thermal regulation properties of TSC nanofibrous mats were characterized in detail. Interestingly, the intrinsic structure of nanofibers could be tuned by varying the composition of precursor solution. The minimum specific surface area of TiO2/SiO2/C nanofibrous mats was as high as 685.52 m2·g−1. The melting and crystallization enthalpy of TiO2/SiO2/C nanofibrous mats-based FSPCMs were more than 126.91 and 120.36 J·g−1, respectively. Furthermore, the manufactured FSPCMs were applied as the middle layer of temperature regulation textiles with a sandwich structure, the largest temperature difference between temperature regulation textiles and conventional textiles was up to 12.6 °C, indicating the manufactured temperature regulation textiles could effectively buffer the external temperature variation. The results proved microemulsion electrospinning is indeed an efficient method to prepare desired substrate materials of FSPCMs.