Flexible and conductive nanofiber textiles for leakage-free electro-thermal energy conversion and storage

In this contribution, a novel flexible phase change textiles based on decanoic acid (DA) and polyamide 11 (PA11) blends with various DA/PA11 mass ratios, in which PA11 acted as the polymer matrix, and DA behaved as phase change ingredient, were developed via electrospinning. Besides, a conductive polypyrrole (PPy) coating was designed via in-situ polymerization. Morphological observations carried out by the SEM images demonstrated porous and highly homogeneous morphology with smooth, long, continuous, and free-bead fibers. Furthermore, forming of a uniform PPy layer on the surface was confirmed through the images. As such, conductive textiles with electrical conductivity up to 28.89 ± 1.50 S/m were prepared. Tensile testing showed that the mechanical properties did not change considerably after PPy coating. Moreover, the phase change performance was investigated using DSC analysis, where the melting and crystallization enthalpies were respectively 112.77 J/g and 110.21 J/g in the textile with the highest DA loading, i.e., 70 wt%. More notably, the phase-change enthalpies did not change considerably after 100 DSC thermal cycles. Finally, significant electro- and photo-heat storage and conversion were observed for the conductive PCM textiles. Thus, this work introduced new flexible smart textiles with significant potential in wearable and protective systems.