Phase Changing Materials With A Special Focus On Recent Advancements-A Review

Abstract

Phase-changing materials (PCMs) are utilized for energy storage by taking advantage of the quantity of heat absorbed or emitted in a process involving a phase transformation. They have found applications in a variety of fields such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, protective clothing, solar energy, and energy systems. This paper is a review of the most recent developments in phase-changing materials, including metallic eutectics and their composites, fatty acids, erythritol, fatty alcohols and their mixtures, water, and ionic liquids. It also places emphasis on rendering PCMs efficient, including using different approaches to enhance the thermal conductivity and suitable forms (micro, macro, and nano-capsules) to utilize in different applications. Progress on form-stable PCMs is also treated under a different section in this work. Finally, the paper outlines the recent techniques used to produce crystalline PCMs. Illustrations and tables have been used to enable readers to understand the work demonstrated in recent times. Lastly, industrial demand and future developments have also been outlined.

In this paper, an extensive review of the most recent advancements on PCMs is presented. This review is classified into various PCMs depending on their groups such as metallic eutectics and their composites, fatty acids and derivatives, alcohols, acids, water, ionic liquids, composite PCMs, form-stable PCMs, latent heat storage units, and crystalline PCMs. Besides providing advancements on the PCMs and their use, we essentially lay emphasis on rendering the PCMs efficient by providing a review on increasing thermal conductivity using different approaches, and the morphologies such as micro, macro, nano-capsules, etc., used in various practical applications. Management of PCMs, including preventing leakage, super cooling, and superheating, is detailed in this review. In addition, market demand for PCM applications has been provided to understand the application part.