Research status and application of phase change materials

Abstract

Currently, the utilization efficiency of energy still remains at a low level, although the depletion of fossil fuel is appoaching. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop new materials and technologies for energy-saving and environment protection. Phase-change materials (PCM), which can absorb or release heat through inversible phase change, are very promising in the fields of heat storage and thermal management. In this paper, the characteristics and classification of PCM were introduced briefly in the first section, and then the application and development status of PCM were reviewed and analyzed detailedly. In the third part, the main problems of PCM were pointed out, and the related research work and recent research progress were analyzed and discussed. Finally, it was pointed out that optimizing material properties through new functional composite technology, designing new material system, expanding new application fields are the main development directions of phase change energy storage materials.

Keywords

• phase change material
• phase change energy storage
• thermal management
• heat storage
• energy efficiency