Is phase change material effective in energy storage

Are phase change materials suitable for thermal energy storage?

Phase change materials (PCMs) having a large latent heat during solid-liquid phase transition are promising for thermal energy storage applications. However, the relatively low thermal conductivity of the majority of promising PCMs (<10 W/ (m ⋅ K)) limits the power density and overall storage efficiency.

What are phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage applications?

Fig. 1. Bibliometric analysis of (a) journal publications and (b) the patents, related to PCMs for thermal energy storage applications. The materials used for latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) are called Phase Change Materials (PCMs) .

Is phase change storage a good energy storage solution?

Therefore, compared to sensible heat storage, phase change storage offers advantages such as higher energy density, greater flexibility, and temperature stability, making it a widely promising energy storage solution.

Are graphene-aerogel-based phase change composites suitable for thermal storage applications?

The improved thermal conductivity and phase change enthalpy (which corresponds to energy density) are the two important parameters that make the graphene-aerogel-based phase change composites an attractive materials for thermal storage applications.

How much research has been done on phase change materials?

A thorough literature survey on the phase change materials for TES using Web of Science led to more than 4300 research publications on the fundamental science/chemistry of the materials, components, systems, applications, developments and so on, during the past 25 years.

How to reduce phase change latent heat of cold storage material?

The PCMs in these applications need to be with the lower phase change temperatures, which however, reduce the latent heat of phase change. This can be addressed by the addition of inorganic salts to the water which helps reduce the phase change temperature of cold storage material without affecting its phase change latent heat.