Emerging phase change cold storage materials derived from sodium sulfate decahydrate

Emerging phase change cold storage materials derived from sodium sulfate decahydrate (SSD, Na2SO4·10H2O) were successfully prepared for the cold chain transportation (2–8 °C). Their phase transition temperatures were reduced by the addition of cooling agents (KCl and NH4Cl), meanwhile, their phase separation and supercooling were successfully inhibited by adding both carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and borax (B). The microstructure and chemical structure analyses of the composites showed that the resulting materials had good chemical compatibility. The preferred composite (SSD-BCKN3) with virtually no phase separation had a phase transition temperature at 6.8 °C, which had the latent heat of 97.05 J g−1 for melting, and its supercooling degree was 0.7 °C. The thermal conductivity of SSD-BCKN3 was 0.264 W m−1 k−1. Cooling experiments and fruit storage performance experiments showed that SSD-BCKN3 has good potential for energy storage in cold chain transportation applications. •Multi-composite phase change cold storage materials were prepared.•The effect of the additives on the properties of the composites was studied.•Test proved the potential of composites for cold chain transport applications.