Synthesis of Microencapsulated Thermal Management Materials via Chitosan Grafting Route for Promoting the Applications in Medical Field

Abstract

To be safely and effectively applied in the medical field, microencapsulated phase change materials must be multifunctional with sufficient mechanical strength. In this work, a series of n-octadecane@chitosan-graft-poly(methyl methacrylate) microcapsules were designed and fabricated by using a chitosan-grafting technique to enhance the mechanical strength and antibacterial activity. The optimal microcapsules exhibited a typical core-shell structure, a particle sizes below 5 μm, a large heat storage capacity (ΔHm = 195.69 J/g) and a high encapsulation efficiency (80.47%). Furthermore, the microcapsules demonstrated excellent pressure resistance (~ 3.22 MPa), high thermal stability (~ 280℃) and outstanding cycling thermal stability ( with 96.53% of ΔHm retained after 100 cycles). Simultaneously, two types of medical applications were simulated, and the results demonstrated that the as-prepared P1-30 microcapsules performed outstandingly as a thermal manager for assisting medical treatments. Additionally, a trade-off model was constructed to analyze the relationship between encapsulation efficiency and yield, indicating the high effectiveness of our synthesis method in the microemulsion process. In summary, this article paves the way for broader applications of microencapsulated phase change materials in the medical field.