IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v210y2025ics1364032124009213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preparation, characterization, and selection of nano-assisted phase change materials for thermal management and storage applications

Author

Listed:
  • Zacharias, Anto
  • Baby, Rajesh
  • Maria, Hanna J.
  • Thomas, Sabu

Abstract

The trend toward high-power-density, compact electronic devices demands effective heat control to preserve lifespan and performance. Phase Change Materials (PCMs) provide a lightweight, passive option because of their high latent heat, whereas active cooling techniques like fans can increase bulk and cost. High specific heat capacity, minimal volume change during phase transition, operating temperature, and melting point are all necessary when choosing a PCM. However, the restricted application scope of PCMs due to their low thermal conductivity is overcome by adding thermal conductivity enhancers, including nanomaterials. This paper studies the preparation, classification, and selection criteria of Nano-enhanced Phase Change Materials (NePCMs) utilizing methods such as the response surface approach and multi-criteria decision-making, based on two decades of research in this area. For an in-depth understanding of how nanoparticles impact PCMs' thermophysical properties, the paper discusses characterization methods like TEM, SEM, DSC, XRD, and IR spectroscopy. Integration of nanomaterials improves energy efficiency and minimizes environmental effects, integrating nano-enhanced PCM with sustainable development goals 13 (Climate Action) and 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). Nano-enhanced PCM provides an alternative to advanced thermal management solutions in electronics and thermal storage applications by addressing thermal performance issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Zacharias, Anto & Baby, Rajesh & Maria, Hanna J. & Thomas, Sabu, 2025. "Preparation, characterization, and selection of nano-assisted phase change materials for thermal management and storage applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124009213
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.115195
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032124009213
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115195?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu, Kunyang & Jia, Minjie & Tian, Weichen & Yang, Yingzi & Liu, Yushi, 2024. "Enhanced thermo-mechanical properties of cementitious composites via red mud-based microencapsulated phase change material: Towards energy conservation in building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. M. M. Sarafraz & Mohammad Reza Safaei & Arturo S. Leon & Iskander Tlili & Tawfeeq Abdullah Alkanhal & Zhe Tian & Marjan Goodarzi & M. Arjomandi, 2019. "Experimental Investigation on Thermal Performance of a PV/T-PCM (Photovoltaic/Thermal) System Cooling with a PCM and Nanofluid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Kazemian, Arash & Khatibi, Meysam & Reza Maadi, Seyed & Ma, Tao, 2021. "Performance optimization of a nanofluid-based photovoltaic thermal system integrated with nano-enhanced phase change material," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    4. Ikutegbe, Charles A. & Al-Shannaq, Refat & Farid, Mohammed M., 2022. "Microencapsulation of low melting phase change materials for cold storage applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    5. Khan, Sheher Yar & Waqas, Adeel & Kumar, Mahesh & Liu, Shuli & Shen, Yongliang & Chen, Tingsen & Shoaib, Muhammad & Khan, Muhammad Omair, 2024. "Experimental, numerical, and 4E assessment of photovoltaic module using macro-encapsulation of pure and nano phase change material: A comparative analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    6. Sathishkumar, A. & Cheralathan, M., 2023. "Charging and discharging processes of low capacity nano-PCM based cool thermal energy storage system: An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PB).
    7. Hashem Zadeh, Seyed Mohsen & Mehryan, S.A.M. & Ghalambaz, Mohammad & Ghodrat, Maryam & Young, John & Chamkha, Ali, 2020. "Hybrid thermal performance enhancement of a circular latent heat storage system by utilizing partially filled copper foam and Cu/GO nano-additives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    8. Shakibi, Hamid & Shokri, Afshar & Sobhani, Behnam & Yari, Mortaza, 2023. "Numerical analysis and optimization of a novel photovoltaic thermal solar unit improved by Nano-PCM as an energy storage media and finned collector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    9. Cabeza, Luisa F. & de Gracia, Alvaro & Zsembinszki, Gabriel & Borri, Emiliano, 2021. "Perspectives on thermal energy storage research," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olmuş, Umutcan & Güzelel, Yunus Emre & Büyükalaca, Orhan, 2025. "Comparative numerical investigation of different PVT collector configurations: Energy and exergy analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    2. Shoeibi, Shahin & Kargarsharifabad, Hadi & Mirjalily, Seyed Ali Agha & Zargarazad, Mojtaba, 2021. "Performance analysis of finned photovoltaic/thermal solar air dryer with using a compound parabolic concentrator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    3. Zhang, Chenyu & Wang, Ning & Xu, Hongtao & Fang, Yuan & Yang, Qiguo & Talkhoncheh, Fariborz Karimi, 2023. "Thermal management optimization of the photovoltaic cell by the phase change material combined with metal fins," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    4. Kazemian, Arash & Khatibi, Meysam & Ma, Tao & Peng, Jinqing & Hongxing, Yang, 2023. "A thermal performance-enhancing strategy of photovoltaic thermal systems by applying surface area partially covered by solar cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    5. Yu, Qinghua & Chen, Xi & Yang, Hongxing, 2021. "Research progress on utilization of phase change materials in photovoltaic/thermal systems: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. He, Zemin & Yu, Ping & Niu, Lichun & Zhang, Cuihong & Ma, Cheng, 2024. "Photovoltaic panel cooling with new composite of phase change materials and hierarchical nanoparticles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    7. Duan, Zhengxiao & Zhang, Yanni & Deng, Jun & Shu, Pan & Yao, Di, 2023. "A systematic exploration of mapping knowledge domains for free radical research related to coal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Chang, Yue & Jia, Yulong & Hong, Tan, 2023. "Comprehensive analysis and multi-objective optimization of an innovative power generation system using biomass gasification and LNG regasification processes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    9. Sarabi, Mohammad & Hekmat, Mohamad Hamed, 2024. "An experimental study on performance improvement of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems using phase change materials (PCMs)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    10. Zeyad A. Haidar & Jamel Orfi & Zakariya Kaneesamkandi, 2020. "Photovoltaic Panels Temperature Regulation Using Evaporative Cooling Principle: Detailed Theoretical and Real Operating Conditions Experimental Approaches," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    11. Chen, Ying & Liu, Yuxuan & Nam, Eun-Young & Zhang, Yang & Dahlak, Aida, 2023. "Exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analysis and optimization of an integrated double-flash-binary geothermal system and dual-pressure ORC using zeotropic mixtures; multi-objective optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    12. Hossain, Farzad & Karim, Md. Rezwanul & Bhuiyan, Arafat A., 2022. "A review on recent advancements of the usage of nano fluid in hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 114-131.
    13. Han, Pengju & Yu, Bo & Zhao, Xu & Liu, Changhui & nie, Gao Wei & Chen, Yanfei & Li, Xiang & Shao, Weili & Liu, Fan & He, Jianxin, 2024. "Excellent interfacial compatibility of phase change capsules/polyurethane foam with enhanced mechanical and thermal insulation properties for thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    14. Zhang, Chenyu & Wang, Ning & Yang, Qiguo & Xu, Hongtao & Qu, Zhiguo & Fang, Yuan, 2022. "Energy and exergy analysis of a switchable solar photovoltaic/thermal-phase change material system with thermal regulation strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1392-1405.
    15. Xu, Tianhao & Humire, Emma Nyholm & Trevisan, Silvia & Ignatowicz, Monika & Sawalha, Samer & Chiu, Justin NW., 2022. "Experimental and numerical investigation of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit with ellipsoidal macro-encapsulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    16. Zhu, Yanlong & Lu, Jie & Yuan, Yuan & Wang, Fuqiang & Tan, Heping, 2020. "Effect of radiation on the effective thermal conductivity of encapsulated capsules containing high-temperature phase change materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 676-685.
    17. Zhao, Yaohua & Liu, Zichu & Quan, Zhenhua & Jing, Heran & Yang, Mingguang, 2022. "Experimental investigation and multi-objective optimization of ice thermal storage device with multichannel flat tube," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 28-46.
    18. Safae Margoum & Bekkay Hajji & Stefano Aneli & Giuseppe Marco Tina & Antonio Gagliano, 2024. "Optimizing Nanofluid Hybrid Solar Collectors through Artificial Intelligence Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-24, May.
    19. Olmuş, Umutcan & Güzelel, Yunus Emre & Çerçi, Kamil Neyfel & Büyükalaca, Orhan, 2025. "Numerical analysis and comparison of different serpentine-based photovoltaic-thermal collectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    20. Ma, Tingshan & Li, Zhengkuan & Lv, Kai & Chang, Dongfeng & Hu, Wenshuai & Zou, Ying, 2024. "Design and performance analysis of deep peak shaving scheme for thermal power units based on high-temperature molten salt heat storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:210:y:2025:i:c:s1364032124009213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.