Encapsulation of Coconut Oil Using Ethyl Cellulose as Coating Shell for Thermoregulating Response of Cotton

ABSTRACT

Phase change material (PCM) with its heat storing and releasing ability provides a thermoregulating effect. For thermoregulation, different kinds of PCMs are used among which the paraffins are widely used due to their high enthalpy values. Here, coconut oil was used as PCM in the core by encapsulating cellulose-based shell. Mostly, melamine formaldehyde-based shells are used for encapsulation due to their ease in formation and have toxic effect on humans and environment, so bio-degradable solution is provided using cellulose based shell with coconut oil as core PCM. Ethyl cellulose with its outstanding properties and biocompatible nature provides eco-friendly nanoencapsulation. This research work reports the development of nanocapsules of ethyl cellulose as shell and coconut oil as core PCM via solvent evaporation technique and its application on cotton fabric through coating. The encapsulation was performed using general full factorial design of experiment containing three factors and three levels of each factor except the first factor (type of solvent). The resultant capsules and fabric were characterized using Zeta Sizer, Differential Scanning Calorimeter, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Infrared thermography. Different combination of factors used in experimentation resulted in the investigation of effect of solvents, emulsifiers, etc. on particle size.

摘要

相变材料 (PCM) 具有蓄热和放热能力, 具有热调节作用. 对于温度调节, 使用了不同种类的相变材料, 其中石蜡因其高焓值而被广泛使用. 在这里, 椰子油通过包裹纤维素基外壳被用作核心的PCM. 由于三聚氰胺-甲醛基壳易于形成, 对人体和环境有毒性作用, 因此大多用于封装, 因此以椰子油为核心的纤维素基壳提供了可生物降解的解决方案. 乙基纤维素以其优异的性能和生物相容性提供了生态友好的纳米封装. 本研究报告了以乙基纤维素为壳, 椰子油为核, 通过溶剂蒸发技术制备纳米胶囊, 并通过涂层在棉织物上的应用. 采用一般全因子实验设计进行包封, 包括三个因素和三个水平的每个因素, 第一个因素除外 (溶剂类型). 使用Zeta Sizer、差示扫描量热仪、扫描电子显微镜、傅里叶变换红外光谱和红外热像仪对所得胶囊和织物进行了表征. 实验中使用的不同因素组合导致了溶剂、乳化剂等对粒径影响的研究.

KEYWORDS:

• Microencapsulation
• PCM
• cellulosic materials
• Solvent evaporation
• Latent heat
• Coating

关键词:

• 微胶囊化
• PCM
• 纤维素材料
• 溶剂蒸发
• 潜热
• 涂层

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.