ASIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY ASIAN JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY http://dx.doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2016.19612 INTRODUCTION Fundamental principles of functional textiles have been developed to enhance textile performance and to protect textile industry from extreme environmental conditions. The demands of dynamic thermo-regulating fabric have attracted more and more attention [1]. Thermo-regulated textile is a smart textile material that can change its temperature according to the environment. Phase change material has been used to produce thermo-regulated textiles to improve thermal properties of textile garments. Phase change materials can absorb, store and release large amounts of latent heat over a defined temperature range while undergoing phase changes and their application in thermal energy storage has been well known in many fields and it is one of the most important techniques to make the renewable energy and increase percentage of the energy efficiency [2,3]. It is reported that incorporation of phase change materials in textiles will perform buffering effect keeping the skin temperature constant against extreme weather hence prolonging thermal comfort for the wearer and is also claimed that using phase change materials can decrease the fabric thickness required to protect the human body from cold New Approach of Phase Change Material Encapsulation through in situ Polymerization to Improve Thermo-Regulating Property of Cellulose ASFANDYAR KHAN 1,* , MD. NAHID PERVEZ 1 , IMRAN AHMAD KHAN 2 , SHABEER AHMAD 2 , RASHID MASOOD 2 , TANVEER HUSSAIN 2 and FELIX TELEGIN 3 1 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, P.R. China 2 National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan 3 Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, Ivanovo, 153000, Russia *Corresponding author: E-mail: asfandyarkhan100@gmail.com Received: 11 September 2015; Accepted: 15 January 2016; Published online: 29 February 2016; AJC-17773 To incorporate thermal comfort in fabric by the use of latent heat storage, micro-encapsulated phase change material is the most efficient way of storing thermal energy. This paper reports a study on the new approach of encapsulation by using three concentrations of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt % of polyethylene glycol-1000 used as a phase change material through in situ polymerization. PEG-1000 microcapsules were characterized by the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and differential scanning calorimeter studies. By measuring differential scanning calorimeter results, the highest thermal energy storage attributed for 5 % PEG coated fabric than binder coated fabric that is 3.96 kJ g -1 and it plays a vital role to enhance the thermo-regulating property of cotton fabric. Samples were tested for thermo-regulating properties i.e. air permeability, thermal resistance, thermal energy storage, tensile and tearing strength testing by independent measurement way. Phase change material treated fabric shows good thermo regulating property, when applied on textile materials. Keywords: Phase change material, Thermal resistance, Thermal energy storage, Micro-encapsulation, in situ Polymerization. Asian Journal of Chemistry; Vol. 28, No. 6 (2016), 1191-1196 environment [4,5]. When phase change materials are applied in textile, phase change materials have to be put into micro- capsules. Otherwise they will eventually drip off clothing when they melt [6]. Microencapsulation is the process of enveloping microscopic sized droplets or particles in a shell material for the purposes of protection or controlled release, because phase change material-containing microcapsules must be durable and safe through the finishing process. The phase change material encapsulated materials are embedded with conductive medium and these medium can be designed in a variety way to provide enhanced thermal management [7]. A literature survey on micro-encapsulated phase change materials indicates that the most suitable methods include in situ, interfacial and suspension polymerization methods for chemical processes and simple or complex phase coacervation for physico- chemical processes and spray-drying for the mechanical processes [8,9]. Among these, in situ polymerization is the most widely used for the encapsulation of phase change materials capable of producing strong capsules and also suitable for textile applications [10,11]. in situ Polymerization is similar to interfacial polymerization, except there are no reactive monomers in the organic phase and all polymerization