IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v216y2025ics1364032125003132.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A comprehensive review of micro/nano-encapsulated phase change material-based fluids: Modeling, properties, and heat transfer enhancement

Author

Listed:
  • Haddad, Zoubida

Abstract

Micro and Nano-encapsulated Phase Change Materials (M/N-ePCM) based fluids have garnered significant attention due to their dual benefit of high energy storage capacity and thermal performance. These distinctive properties have prompted numerous numerical research studies exploring their potential as an alternative to conventional heat transfer fluids. To accurately predict their behavior, enhance their performance, and optimize their use, this review, unlike previous studies, provides a comprehensive overview of the mathematical models developed to describe the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of M/N-ePCM-based fluids, including single-phase and two-phase approaches. It critically evaluates the predictive accuracy of existing theoretical models against experimental data on M/N-ePCM-based fluids and M/N-ePCM-based fluids highlights the latest advancements in convective heat transferM/N-ePCM-based fluids, offering a more integrated and detailed perspective on M/N-ePCM performance. The review highlights several key findings. Firstly, the effectiveness of M/N-ePCMs in thermal applications is strongly dependent on their thermophysical and phase change properties. Identifying the optimal shell-to-core weight ratios is essential for enhancing these properties. Additionally, there are significant discrepancies between experimental and predicted data for the thermophysical and phase change properties of M/N-ePCM-based fluids. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of the convective heat transfer behavior of M/N-ePCM-based fluids requires exploring a broader variety of shell and core materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Haddad, Zoubida, 2025. "A comprehensive review of micro/nano-encapsulated phase change material-based fluids: Modeling, properties, and heat transfer enhancement," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:216:y:2025:i:c:s1364032125003132
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2025.115640
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032125003132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2025.115640?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. Zhang, G.H. & Zhao, C.Y., 2011. "Thermal and rheological properties of microencapsulated phase change materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2959-2966.
    2. Ran, Fengming & Chen, Yunkang & Cong, Rongshuai & Fang, Guiyin, 2020. "Flow and heat transfer characteristics of microencapsulated phase change slurry in thermal energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. He, Lijuan & Mo, Songping & Lin, Pengcheng & Jia, Lisi & Chen, Ying & Cheng, Zhengdong, 2020. "D-mannitol@silica/graphene oxide nanoencapsulated phase change material with high phase change properties and thermal reliability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    4. Ma, F. & Zhang, P. & Shi, X.J., 2018. "Investigation of thermo-fluidic performance of phase change material slurry and energy transport characteristics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 643-654.
    5. Yuan, Shunpan & Yan, Rui & Ren, Bibo & Du, Zongliang & Cheng, Xu & Du, Xiaosheng & Wang, Haibo, 2021. "Robust, double-layered phase-changing microcapsules with superior solar-thermal conversion capability and extremely high energy storage density for efficient solar energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 725-733.
    6. Tahan Latibari, Sara & Mehrali, Mohammad & Mehrali, Mehdi & Afifi, Amalina Binti Muhammad & Mahlia, Teuku Meurah Indra & Akhiani, Amir Reza & Metselaar, Hendrik Simon Cornelis, 2015. "Facile synthesis and thermal performances of stearic acid/titania core/shell nanocapsules by sol–gel method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 635-644.
    7. Al-Maghalseh, Maher & Mahkamov, Khamid, 2018. "Methods of heat transfer intensification in PCM thermal storage systems: Review paper," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 62-94.
    8. He, Fang & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2014. "New approach for sol–gel synthesis of microencapsulated n-octadecane phase change material with silica wall using sodium silicate precursor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 223-233.
    9. Liu, Huan & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen & Ji, Shengfu, 2019. "Morphology-controlled synthesis of microencapsulated phase change materials with TiO2 shell for thermal energy harvesting and temperature regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 599-617.
    10. Su, Weiguang & Hu, Meiyong & Wang, Li & Kokogiannakis, Georgios & Chen, Jun & Gao, Liying & Li, Anqing & Xu, Chonghai, 2022. "Microencapsulated phase change materials with graphene-based materials: Fabrication, characterisation and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Haddad, Zoubida & Oztop, Hakan F. & Abu-Nada, Eiyad & Mataoui, Amina, 2012. "A review on natural convective heat transfer of nanofluids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5363-5378.
    12. Haddad, Zoubida & Buonomo, Bernardo & Abu-Nada, Eiyad & Manca, Oronzio, 2024. "A comprehensive review on the properties of micro/nano-encapsulated phase change materials: Single- to multi-layered shells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    13. Jayathunga, D.S. & Karunathilake, H.P. & Narayana, M. & Witharana, S., 2024. "Phase change material (PCM) candidates for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) in concentrated solar power (CSP) based thermal applications - A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    14. Sun, Kun & Liu, Huan & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2019. "Innovative design of superhydrophobic thermal energy-storage materials by microencapsulation of n-docosane with nanostructured ZnO/SiO2 shell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 549-565.
    15. Jamekhorshid, A. & Sadrameli, S.M. & Farid, M., 2014. "A review of microencapsulation methods of phase change materials (PCMs) as a thermal energy storage (TES) medium," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 531-542.
    16. Liu, S. & Sakr, M., 2013. "A comprehensive review on passive heat transfer enhancements in pipe exchangers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 64-81.
    17. G. P. Peters & R. M. Andrew & J. G. Canadell & P. Friedlingstein & R. B. Jackson & J. I. Korsbakken & C. Quéré & A. Peregon, 2020. "Carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow amidst slowly emerging climate policies," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 3-6, January.
    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. Haddad, Zoubida & Buonomo, Bernardo & Abu-Nada, Eiyad & Manca, Oronzio, 2024. "A comprehensive review on the properties of micro/nano-encapsulated phase change materials: Single- to multi-layered shells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Dubey, Abhayjeet kumar & Sun, Jingyi & Choudhary, Tushar & Dash, Madhusmita & Rakshit, Dibakar & Ansari, M Zahid & Ramakrishna, Seeram & Liu, Yong & Nanda, Himansu Sekhar, 2023. "Emerging phase change materials with improved thermal efficiency for a clean and sustainable environment: An approach towards net zero," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    3. Zhang, Ying & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2016. "Microencapsulation of n-dodecane into zirconia shell doped with rare earth: Design and synthesis of bifunctional microcapsules for photoluminescence enhancement and thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 113-126.
    4. Ahmed Hassan & Mohammad Shakeel Laghari & Yasir Rashid, 2016. "Micro-Encapsulated Phase Change Materials: A Review of Encapsulation, Safety and Thermal Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-32, October.
    5. He, Junjie & Chu, Wenxiao & Wang, Qiuwang, 2025. "Applications of low melting point alloy for electronic thermal management: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    6. Jacob, Rhys & Bruno, Frank, 2015. "Review on shell materials used in the encapsulation of phase change materials for high temperature thermal energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 79-87.
    7. Yataganbaba, Alptug & Ozkahraman, Bengi & Kurtbas, Irfan, 2017. "Worldwide trends on encapsulation of phase change materials: A bibliometric analysis (1990–2015)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 720-731.
    8. Changling Wang & Guiling Zhang & Xiaosong Zhang, 2022. "Experimental and Photothermal Performance Evaluation of Multi-Wall Carbon-Nanotube-Enhanced Microencapsulation Phase Change Slurry for Efficient Photothermal Conversion and Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Chai, Luxiao & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2015. "Development of bifunctional microencapsulated phase change materials with crystalline titanium dioxide shell for latent-heat storage and photocatalytic effectiveness," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 661-674.
    10. Tao, Jialu & Luan, Jingde & Liu, Yue & Qu, Daoyu & Yan, Zheng & Ke, Xin, 2022. "Technology development and application prospects of organic-based phase change materials: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    11. Jiang, Fuyun & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2014. "Design and synthesis of magnetic microcapsules based on n-eicosane core and Fe3O4/SiO2 hybrid shell for dual-functional phase change materials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 456-468.
    12. Chinnasamy, Veerakumar & Heo, Jaehyeok & Jung, Sungyong & Lee, Hoseong & Cho, Honghyun, 2023. "Shape stabilized phase change materials based on different support structures for thermal energy storage applications–A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    13. Jiang, Binbin & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2017. "Fabrication of microencapsulated phase change materials with TiO2/Fe3O4 hybrid shell as thermoregulatory enzyme carriers: A novel design of applied energy microsystem for bioapplications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 20-33.
    14. Zhang, Wenhui & Zhang, Hang & Liu, Shuhui & Zhang, Xingxiang & Li, Wei, 2024. "Preparation and crystallization behavior of sensitive thermochromic microencapsulated phase change materials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    15. 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).
    16. Huyu Li & Guojun Yu & Huijin Xu & Xue Han & Huihao Liu, 2023. "A Review of the Mathematical Models for the Flow and Heat Transfer of Microencapsulated Phase Change Slurry (MEPCS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Tafavogh, Mahyar & Zahedi, Alireza, 2022. "Improving the performance of home heating system with the help of optimally produced heat storage nanocapsules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1276-1293.
    18. Zhang, Yi & Tao, Wen & Wang, Kehan & Li, Dongxu, 2020. "Analysis of thermal properties of gypsum materials incorporated with microencapsulated phase change materials based on silica," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 400-408.
    19. Tang, Jia & Yang, Mu & Yu, Fang & Chen, Xingyu & Tan, Li & Wang, Ge, 2017. "1-Octadecanol@hierarchical porous polymer composite as a novel shape-stability phase change material for latent heat thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 514-522.
    20. Zhang, Ya & Liu, Huan & Niu, Jinfei & Wang, Xiaodong & Wu, Dezhen, 2020. "Development of reversible and durable thermochromic phase-change microcapsules for real-time indication of thermal energy storage and management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(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:216:y:2025:i:c:s1364032125003132. 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.