Phase Change Microcapsules with a Polystyrene/Boron Nitride Nanosheet Hybrid Shell for Enhanced Thermal Management of Electronics.

Organic shell material and phase change material (PCM) have low thermal conductivity, which reduces the heat absorption and release rate of microencapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs). Boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) with high thermal conductivity can not only stabilize the oil phase as the Pickering emulsifier but also improve the thermal conductivity of MEPCMs as one of the shell components, thus facilitating the heat conduction in the microcapsule system. Herein, MEPCM with paraffin wax (PW) as the core material and polystyrene (PS) modified by BNNSs as the shell material (PW@PS/BNNS MEPCMs) are synthesized via Pickering emulsion polymerization.

Effective Structure Control of Colloidal Molecules and the Morphology Evolution Mechanism Investigation.

Colloidal molecules (CMs), nonspherical clusters of a small number of particles, can be used as building blocks for self-assembly applications. Here, we propose a novel one pot method for CMs synthesis. First, poly(-isopropylacrylamide--acrylic acid) (P(NIPAM--AA)) microgels were prepared by soap-free emulsion polymerization as seed particles, then monomer styrene and cross-linking agent divinylbenzene (DVB) were added, which could be polymerized by the remaining free radicals on the seed surface in situ.