Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Performance improvement of solar thermal systems integrated with phase T

change materials (PCM), a review
⁎ ⁎
F.S. Javadi , H.S.C. Metselaar , P. Ganesan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The present review is an extensive overview of the research progress obtained in the field of Phase Change
Solar collector Material (PCM) integrated with solar thermal applications. Solar energy has become an attractive method of
Phase Change Material using clean energy to eliminate the shortage and environmental drawbacks of fossil fuels but it needs energy
Solar Thermal storage to bridge the mismatch between times of energy demand and energy supply. Latent Heat Storage (LHS)
Latent Heat Storage
in PCMs is the most suitable solution for thermal energy storage due to their high latent heat. In this review,
Thermal Battery
Thermal Storage
special attention is given to recent publications in the field of PCM integrated with solar thermal applications
along with the material problems and possible solutions. Finally, future directions on possible studies and ap-
plications are proposed.

1. Introduction
The industrial revolution in the 1970s caused a critical increase of
energy consumption (British Petroleum, 2011). Rapid population
growth and rising living standards in the developing world, have in-
creased the primary energy demand globally. In recent decades, efforts
to improve energy efficiency have somewhat mitigated the growth of
energy demand, however, reports from British Petroleum predict an
increase of energy demand by almost 40% between 2010 and 2030. By
then, 80% of the world’s energy demand is still predicted to be covered
by fossil fuel.
A combination of energy price, limited fossil fuels, energy con-
servation for the next generation, and global environmental concerns
such as pollution and global warming has led scientists and engineers to
concentrate on energy consumption reduction and usage of renewable
energy such as solar, wind, hydro and wave energy (Waqas and Ud Din,
2013). The importance of this topic is also highlighted in the Interna-
tional Energy Agency (IEA) reports and Energy Efficiency Governance
(International Energy Agency, 2010). In the past decades, fluctuations
in the price of fossil fuels, which is influenced by the political and
economic aspects, has created instability and insecurity condition in the
energy sector. Therefore, independence of the energy sectors from fossil
fuels is one of the long-term goals of developed countries especially
those having no or limited fossil fuel resources.
Of the total energy demand, 20% to 40% is consumed in buildings in
developed countries (Javadi et al., 2013a; Osterman et al., 2015).
Therefore, reducing the energy consumption in this sector plays a sig-
nificant role in the energy consumption cycle. If energy must be used
then renewable energy sources, especially freely available sources are
the best choice as their exploitation has little negative impact on the
environment. The application of renewable energy sources has in-
creased significantly in the last decades. However, each country has its
own energy policy which leads to different priorities of renewable en-
ergy application. Thus, working on the performance improvement to
gain as much benefit as possible in the current condition is one of the
most common focuses.
The demand for electricity is high and growing rapidly (Souayfane
et al., 2016). Cooling is one of the major electricity consumers espe-
cially in tropical countries, while heating consumes a large amount of
energy in the cold or four-season countries. Reducing electricity con-
sumption by improving the efficiency of the major electricity con-
sumers or creating innovative ways to provide cooling and heating from
the renewable resources is therefore necessary.
Indeed, solar energy is widely available throughout the word and its
exploitation has a great potential for reducing the fossil fuel con-
sumption. However, it is not available around the clock which poses the
major challenge of bridging the mismatch between times of energy
demand and energy supply. Therefore, increasing the exploitability of
such a great energy source through thermal energy storage (TES),
specifically using phase change materials (PCMs) is an intelligent so-
lution (Palomba et al., 2017).
The materials used for energy storage are classified into three

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail address: h.metselaar@um.edu.my (H.S.C. Metselaar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.05.106
Received 25 September 2019; Received in revised form 18 April 2020; Accepted 31 May 2020
Available online 12 June 2020
0038-092X/ © 2020 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

Nomenclature ρs :Solid PCM density

c p, g :Specific heat of material in gas phase (kJ/kg °K) Abbreviations

c p, l :Specific heat of material in liquid phase (kJ/kg °K)
c p, s :Specific heat of material in solid phase (kJ/kg °K) CNT :Carbon Nanotube
cp :Specific heat (kJ/kg °K) CNY :Chinese Yuan
k :Thermal conductivity (W/m °K) COP :Coefficient Of Performance
Ls − s :Latent Heat of solid–solid phase change (kJ/kg) GHG :Green House Gasses
Ls − l :Latent Heat of solid–liquid phase change (kJ/kg) HTF :Heat transfer fluid
Ll − g :Latent Heat of liquid–gas phase change (kJ/kg) HVAC :Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
L :Latent Heat or Heat storage capacity (kJ/kg) IEA :Internation Energy Agency
m :mass (kg) LCA :Life Cycle Assessment
Q :Thermal energy (J) LHS :Latent Heat Storage
T :Temperature (°C) OSHA :Occupational Safety & Health Administration
wt :weight percent PCM :Phase Change Material
SHS :Sensible Heat Storage
Greek letters STE :Solar Thermal Electricity
TES :Thermal Energy Storage
ρl :Liquid PCM density

categories based on their storage behaviour; sensible and latent heat,
and chemical energy storage (Naghavi et al., 2015b; Nazir et al., 2019).
Chemical energy storage is the most complicated category as it involves
chemical reactions. Irreversibility of the process and chemical in-
stability are other disadvantages. Sensible heat storage is the most
common method of energy storage due to its low cost and simplicity.
However, due to its main weakness, the poor storage capacity, larger
systems are required. The best method which possesses a higher heat
storage capacity without involving chemical reactions is latent heat
storage (LHS). The most important requirements for LHS systems are
high energy storage density and high power capacity for charging and
discharging the energy. However, the weakness of LHS materials is
their low thermal conductivity which results in a lower power capacity.
Different studies in the literature work on the enhancement of the heat
transfer.
PCMs are used to store energy or control the temperature swing
within a specific range (Souayfane et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2019).
PCMs absorb heat in an endothermic process during melting. The heat
is released again in an exothermic process when the PCM freezes.
Thermophysical, kinetic, and chemical properties as well as economic
and environmental considerations are the main factors in the selection
of PCMs. The most used PCMs in the last 30 years are Paraffin Waxes,
Salt Hydrates, Fatty Acids, and Eutectic organic/non-organic com-
pounds. The weaknesses of each type should be addressed by adjusting
the design of the application equipment.
1.1. PCM classification
PCMs are mainly categorized into three groups as Organic,
Inorganic and Eutectic (Fig. 1). The main differences, advantages and
disadvantages are briefly explained in this section.
1.1.1. Organic PCMs
Many successful experiments on organic latent heat storage mate-
rials have been done in various applications such as space heating,
electronic device cooling, refrigeration systems, solar heating, auto-
mobiles, food processing and storage, and space industries (Sharma
et al., 2009). Advantages of organic PCMs are the absence of phase
separation and a constant latent heat of fusion. A low melting point is a
characteristic of organic PCMs, allowing their use in low temperature
applications. Organics PCMs have low thermal conductivity, so in order
to provide the required heat transfer rate, a larger surface area is
needed.
1.1.2. Inorganic PCMs
Inorganic phase change materials are grouped into two main cate-
gories: salt hydrates and metallic (Sharma et al., 2009). These materials
have high volumetric latent heat density, cyclic stability, and relatively
high thermal conductivity. However, salt hydrates are prone to phase
segregation and sub cooling. The high corrosiveness of inorganic salts is
a major issue, so the container requires high grade materials, increasing

Fig. 1. PCM classification (Lizana et al., 2017).

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F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

the overall costs.
1.1.3. Eutectic PCMs
An eutectic PCM is a composition of two or more components that
can be organic-organic, organic–inorganic or inorganic-inorganic in
which each of the component changes its phase congruently and forms
a crystallized mixture with defined melting and freezing point. Eutectic
PCMs do not exhibit phase segregation during melting and freezing.
They freeze to an intimate mixture of crystals and melt simultaneously
with no separation (Sharma et al., 2009).
This work reviews the effects of using phase change materials on the
performance of solar thermal systems.
2. Properties of PCM
Latent heat storage in PCM can store up to fourteen times more heat
per volume unit than sensible heat storage (Sharma et al., 2009). As a
result, the LHS materials applications increases due to their heat storage
capability.
The functionality of the LHS materials is described in detail in this
section. Thermal energy can be stored in latent and sensible form,
however, one of the highlighted differences is that sensible heat storage
is accompanied by a temperature increase while latent heat storage
happens at constant temperature (Fig. 2). The heat in this case is con-
sumed to change the material phase from solid to liquid or liquid to gas
at constant temperature and is stored in the material in the form of
latent heat. This phenomenon is demonstrated in Fig. 3. As can be seen,
during the phase change process the temperature remains constant (no
change in sensible heat) while the internal energy increases. The total
amount of stored energy, Q, can be calculated by Equation (1) :
Latent heat is stored in and released from the LHS material during
charging and discharging, respectively. Beside latent heat, thermal,
physical, chemical and economical properties are the main character-
istics for material selection.
Suitability of PCMs for specific applications depends on its phase
change temperature. In order to determine the energy storage cap-
ability of the material, the melting enthalpy is used as the main char-
acteristic. Materials with higher melting enthalpy are capable to store
and release a larger amount of energy. In order to evaluate the feasi-
bility of the PCM, the thermophysical and chemical properties along
with financial factors should be considered (Tables 1 and 2).
Advantages and disadvantages of different types of PCM in terms of
physical and technical properties along with the environment impact
are shown in Fig. 5.
Over the last decade, various types of PCMs have been studied.
Their most important properties are the melting temperature and
melting. As can be seen in Fig. 6, a suitable PCM can be found for a wide
range of operating temperature.
In the following sections, the main applications of latent heat sto-
rage materials in solar thermal systems are presented.
2.1. Properties of PCM affecting use in solar thermal system
Solar thermal systems are always hindered by unavailability of the
sun during the whole day. This forms the biggest challenge of solar
applications and prevents the more wide-spread use of solar thermal
applications. PCMs are playing an important role in overcoming this
problem. To have a better understanding of their application, the
properties of PCM and their effect on heat storage are presented in this
section.

Q 2.1.1. Thermal properties

TD TF To evaluate the efficiency of solar thermal systems, it is important to
= m⎡
⎣
∫T A
Cps (T ) dT + Ls − s + Ls − l + ∫T
E
Cpl (T ) dT + Ll − g + know the thermal properties of the materials used (Javadi et al.,
TH
2013b). In solar collector systems, heat is wasted in two ways: inside
∫T G
Cpg (T ) dT⎤
⎦ (1)
the device and between the device and users. The main heat loss be-
tween collector and users is the heat loss from the fluid transmission
Equation (1) Total energy stored in LHS materials pipe to the surrounding. The thermal efficiency increases by decreasing
Where m represents the mass of material, Cp is specific heat of heat losses and by increasing heat transfer to the working fluid, which
material, L is the latent heat, T is the temperature, and the subscripts both result in containing more energy inside the system.
are explained in Fig. 3. The storage capacity of the material is a com- The following are the main thermophysical properties of PCMs with
bination of sensible and latent heat. It means that a heat storage ma- a short explanation of their importance.
terial should have a high specific heat capacity and a high latent heat
value. • Melting point: Phase change materials should have a melting point
As is clearly shown in Fig. 3, the latent heat storage is classified in near the required operation temperature range.
three types as solid–solid, solid–liquid, and liquid–gas (Hasnain, 1998; • Density: High density improves energy storage density which
Regin et al., 2008). The most attractive type is solid–liquid which can
provide a high energy storage density with a small volume change. The
energy storage density depends on the latent heat of fusion and de-
scribes the amount of stored energy in the material. This is the main
advantage of solid–liquid (D-E) phase change material which can store
a certain amount of energy in much smaller weight and volume of
material. Solid-solid (B-C) transitions, typically have a small latent heat.
While liquid–gas (F-G) transitions are not desirable in closed systems
due to the large volume change.
Latent heat storage by solid–liquid transition provides a high energy
storage capacity at a constant temperature. This means that less ma-
terial is needed to store a certain amount of energy. To demonstrate
this, a comparison of the heat storage capability of various materials is
shown in Fig. 4. 20.5 kg of paraffin wax as solid–liquid PCM can store
5000 kJ of energy at its melting point of 59 °C assuming an initial
temperature of 35 °C (ΔT = 25 °C). The red bars in Fig. 4 indicate the
final temperature of various materials if 5000 kJ is stored with a
starting temperature of 35 °C while the weights mentioned next to
material indicates the amount of material that would be needed to store Fig. 2. Working principle of Latent and Sensible heat storage (Helm et al.,
5000 kJ within a ΔT of 25 °C. 2009; Khan et al., 2017).

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F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

Fig. 3. Temperature-time diagram for the heating of a substance (Regin et al., 2008).

reduces the volume of the system. Table 1

• Latent heat of fusion: Higher latent of fusion improve energy storage Overview of desirable thermophysical, chemical and economical properties of
PCM, ().
density.
• Specific heat: High specific heat improves energy storage density of adapted from Regin et al., 2008
the system. Thermophysical Chemical Economical

A suitable PCM should be selected based on the thermophysical Suitable phase change Compatibility with other Low price
temperature material
properties suitable for the selected application. A summary of the Large phase change enthalpy No chemical Good recyclability
thermal properties of different types of PCMs is presented in Table 2. decomposition
As can be seen, the organic PCMs have a relatively low melting Phase change cycling stability Chemical stability Market availability
point in the range of −10 °C up to 100 ℃ (Alva et al., 2017; Khan et al., Little subcooling Non-flammable
Good thermal conductivity Non-poisonous
2017) while inorganic PCMs can have a melting point as high as 1000
Low vapour pressure Non-explosive
℃. Salts are used in high temperature applications with a heat of fusion Small volume change
ranging from 100 kJ/kg to 1000 kJ/kg. This makes them suitable for
applications which require high heat capacity. Eutectic materials are
designed as custom-made materials based on the requirements for congruently without phase separation but they have inherently low
specific applications. An eutectic is a combination of two materials thermal conductivity. Therefore they require a higher heat exchange
which melts congruently. However, repeated melting cycles may surface to allow a sufficient heat transfer rate. Paraffin is one of the
eventually lead to phase separation. most commonly used organic PCMs with a narrow range of melting
Analysis of the thermophysical properties of PCMs (based on temperature between − 10 °C and 67 °C. On the other hand, inorganic
Table 1) shows that different groups of materials have specific ad- materials have a high volumetric latent heat density of around 350 MJ/
vantages and disadvantages. For instance, organic materials melt m3. Their thermal conductivity is higher than that of organic materials

Fig. 4. Final temperature and amount of material to store 5000 kJ, based on data from (Regin et al., 2008).

333
 Table 2
Thermal properties of PCMs (()).
adapted from Alva et al., 2017
Material type PCM Density (kg/m3) Melting point (°C) Specific heat (kJ/kg °K) Latent heat of fusion (kJ/kg) Thermal conductivity k (W/m °K)
F.S. Javadi, et al.

ρs Solid ρl Liquid

Organic Paraffin Wax 790 64 – 173.6 0.167(liquid,63.5 °C) 0.346(solid,33.6 °C)

Al 2375 660 0.89 397 204
Na 850 97 1.3 113 71
n-Dodecane (Carbon atoms-12) −10 216
n-Docozane (Carbon atoms-22) 794 44 249
n-Triacontane (Carbon atoms-30) 775 65.4 252
Caprylic acid (Carbon atoms-8) 901 16 148.5 0.149(liquid,68.6 °C) 0.153(solid,38.6 °C)
(Lauric acid (Carbon atoms-12) 870 42 171
Myristic acid (Carbon atoms-14) 860 54 190
Palmitic acid (Carbon atoms-16) 850 64 185.4 0.162 (liquid,68.4 °C)
Methyl palmitate 27 163.2
Ethylene glycol distearate 63.2 215.8
Dimethyl sebacate 21 135
Methyl-12- Hydroxystearate 43 126
Vinyl stearate 27 122
Poly Ethylene Glycol 4.2 117.6
Xylitol 1450 93 280
Sorbitol 97 110
Erythritol 117 344
Mannitol 165 341
Inorganic MgCl2··6H2O 1569 (20 °C) 1450 (120 °C) 117 168.6 0.570(liquid,120 °C) 0.153(solid,38.6 °C)
Mg (NO3)2 426

334
Ca(NO3)2 2113 560 145
Na2CO3 2533 1972 854 2.0 276
LiOH 1460 462 873
NaCl 2160 802 5.0 420
Na2SO4 2680 884 165
LiF 2640 1810 850 1044
NaF 2558 1948 996 794
Zn/Mg (53.7/46.3) 4600 340 185
Zn/Al (96/4) 6630 381 138
Al/Si (87.76/12.24) 2540 557 498
Cu/Zn/Si(74/19/7) 7170 765 125
Mg/Ca (84/16) 1380 790 272
Si/Mg (56/44) 1900 946 757
Eutectic Organic Lauric acid-capric acid (45/55) 21 143
Capric acid-palmitic Acid (76.5/23.5) 21.8 171.2
Lauric acid-myristic acid (66.0/34.0) 34.2 166.8
Lauric acid-palmitic acid (69.0/31.0) 35.2 166.3
Lauric acid-stearic acid (75.5/24.5) 37 182.7
Myristic acid-palmitic acid (58.0/42.0) 42.6 169.7
Myristic acid-stearic acid (64.0/36.0) 44.1 182.4
Myristic acid-stearic acid (65.7/34.3) 52 162
Palmitic acid-stearic acid (64.2/35.8) 52.3 181.7
(continued on next page)
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

and they show almost no changes in the properties even after many
thermal cycles. Corrosiveness of salt on metal, subcooling and phase
segregation are the known disadvantages of this group of PCMs. Eu-
Thermal conductivity k (W/m °K)

tectics have a definite melting/freezing point and no component se-

paration during phase changes.

2.1.2. Heat transfer

Heat transfer is the most important characteristic of any thermal
system. Extensive research has been conducted on heat transfer im-
0.81 (liquid)

0.86(liquid)
0.95(liquid)
0.5(solid)

provement within the system and reduction of heat loss, which both
will improve the system efficiency.
Heat transfer characteristics are among the most important para-
meters of materials used in thermal systems. Poor heat transfer due to a
low thermal conductivity is a known weak point, especially of organic
Latent heat of fusion (kJ/kg)

PCMs. This leads to longer duration necessary for melting and freezing
which in turn lowers both the storage capacity as well as the heat de-
livery.. Several approaches have been followed to overcome the low
thermal conductivity such as changing composition, adding conductive
phases, encapsulation, extended surface, and use of PCM mixtures.
A brief but comprehensive overview of several experimental and
140
341

351

221
219

782
790

theoretical studies available on heat transfer characteristics of solar

74

thermal system integrated with PCM are shown in Table 3.

As presented in Table 3, PCMs contributed to enhance the heat
Specific heat (kJ/kg °K)

0.63(solid) 0.8(liquid)

transfer of solar thermal system (operating temperature below 100 °C)

by increasing solar energy exploitation, reducing the heat losses, im-
proving heat distribution, and increasing heat storage. As emphasised
0.96(liquid)

0.84(liquid)

in most of the studies, improving the heat distribution and reducing

0.67(solid)
1.2(solid)
0.8(solid)

heat loss are the most common results of using PCM. Therefore, it is
proposed to develop these aspects for further heat transfer improve-
ment.
Melting point (°C)

2.1.3. Environmental impact

The environmental impact achieved by the employment of phase
change materials such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emission,
global warming and biocompatibility are presented in this section.
14.7
314
320
435

542
551

710
767

According to the International Energy Outlook (Energy Information

Administration, 2016), 20% of the total energy supply is consumed in
residential and commercial sectors. This is expected to increase by 1.4%
and 1.6% per year from 2012 to 2040 in each sector, respectively.
ρl Liquid

Therefore, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission will increase. In order to

compensate the energy consumption increment, improvement of the
efficiency of heating and cooling devices is necessary.
Density (kg/m3)

The environment impact of using Rubitherm (RT) PCM on a root

zone heating system was investigated experimentally by Pere Llorach-
ρs Solid

Massana et al. (Llorach-Massana et al., 2017). The PCM absorbs energy

2100
2110

3020
2930

during the daytime and helps to reduce the energy requirement of a

conventional system. The GHG emission reduction was focus to be a
main environmental contribution. This shows that the PCM is the po-
tential solution to reduce the carbon footprint of conventional root zone
CaCl2··6H2O/ CaBr2·.6H2O (45/55)

heating systems.
LiF/MgF2/KF (64/30/ 6 mol%)
BaCl2/KCl/CaCl2 (47/ 24/29)

Marcello De Falco et al. (De Falco et al., 2017) presented an in-

BaCl2/KCl/NaCl (53/28/19)

LiF/CaF2 (80.5/19.5 mol%)

novative PCM based device for cold storage application at 5.5 °C. The
cold storage tank is equipped with eutectic alloy RT6HC as PCM and
KNO3/KCl (95.5/4.5)
MgCl2/KCl (39/61)
LiOH/KOH (40/60)

installed in a traditional chiller fan coil system. A preliminary evalua-

tion resulted in 13–16% energy saving in a small office requiring a
cooling power of 40 kW. Implementation of a scaled-up cold storage
unit integrated with PCM will result in a significant reduction of en-
PCM

vironmental footprint in terms of global warming potential and fossil

fuel depletion.
Another environmental aspect is the material compatibility with the
Eutectic Inorganic
Table 2 (continued)

environment. Biodegradable materials can be broken down into com-

pounds found in nature (Warg, 2015). Therefore, fully biodegradable
Material type

materials have no negative impact on the environment. However, even

biodegradable materials may have long-lasting environmental impact.
Some biodegradable products may take years or decades to fully de-
compose. Several recognized testing procedures have been used to

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F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

Fig. 5. Advantages and disadvantages of different types of PCM, ().

Adapted from Khan et al., 2017; Nazir et al., 2019

Fig. 6. Melting temperature and enthalpy of different PCMs (Khan et al., 2017).

336
 F.S. Javadi, et al.

Table 3
Summary of heat transfer studies of solar thermal system integrated with PCM.
Author System PCM Method Study Findings

Chen et al. (Chen et al., Flat plate solar collector Paraffin wax Melting @70–80 °C Experimental Aluminium foam porous structure filled with paraffin Higher heat transfer performance and melting rate of paraffin with
2010) integrated with solar collector aluminum foamUniform temperature distribution.
Serale et al. (Serale et al., Flat plate solar collector Slurry PCM microencapsulated Numerical Newly developed model derived from Increase in solar energy exploitation of different magnitude according
2016) Melting @ 36–38 °C Hottel–Whillier model used to analyse the to the climate. Instantaneous efficiency and the overall solar energy
performance of PCM based flat plate solar collector conversion. Higher performance increment in colder climates. Reduce
heat losses more in colder weather.
Deng et al. (Deng et al., Solar domestic hot water SAT (Sodium Acetate Trihydrate) Experimental Heat content measurement and thermal performance PCM heat content was lower than the baseline during discharging
2018) melting @ 58 °C analysis of solar domestic hot water tank with the test.About 70% stored heat in PCM was transferred to the water
volume of 148 L and 35 kg PCM tank.The PCM heat storage worked well as a thermal storage device.
Gorzin et al. (Gorzin et al., Solar domestic hot water Paraffin RT50 melting @ 45–51 °C Experimental PCM (RT-50) integrated with flat plate solar water PCM in inner tube provide better heat transfer rate than the PCM in the
2018) heater to find the best PCM distribution model outer shell. Heat transfer is dominated by conduction in an initial
stage, afterward, convection governs the heat transfer during melting

337
Naghavi et al. (Naghavi
et al., 2015a)
Bai et al. (Bai et al., 2018)
Chaabane et al. (Chaabane
et al., 2014)
stage. PCM in the inner tube achieved the maximum temperature.
Solar hot water system Paraffin wax melting @ 46 °C Theoretical Manifold connected to the evacuated tube heat pipe Thermal performance of this design was higher than a conventional
solar collector filled with PCM system.The efficiency of the new design is less sensitive to the draw-off
water flow rate than a conventional system. The efficiency of the
system is less sensitive to the draw off water flowrate than a baseline.
Solar thermal storage Paraffin melting @ 40–60 °C Experimental The inner tube of evacuated solar collector filled The solar collector could absorb larger heat capacity storage with
heating unit with PCM reasonable heat losses.The PCM melts from top to the bottom of the
tube along the axial direction. The heat storage performance improved
significantly as the solar radiation increased by changing the direction
to the south in July and August.
Parabolic concentrating Myristic acid melting @ 54 °C & Numerical The heat storage tank covered with PCM layer Myristic acid operates at higher water temperature during melting
solar water heater RT42-graphite Melting @ 43 °C process than RT42-graphite due to its higher melting
temperature.Thermal losses of the storage tank without PCMs during
the night time is more rapidly than the system with PCMs. Myristic
acid shows better performance than RT-42-graphite.
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

determine the biodegradability of PCMs, including ASTM 6400 and

Annual cooling energy saving of 4–5%.PCM-wallboards are not economically justified in

PCM wallboard coupled with solar thermal system has great potential on building energy

The energy consumption reduction was 3.06 kWh each day, and the static payback period
Aluminium alloy PCM with titanium tubing and low cost carbonates with stainless steel
10 mm layer thickness, resulted to the greater energy savings and reduced the payback

The optimum thickness of the BioPCM layer is zero for all cases.Based on the current
Short payback periods by 2–3 years for residential profiles, and 6 years for the office

average daily energy-consumption reduction of 44.16%, compared with that without

OECD 301. Paraffin products are 21–55% biodegradable. This means

PCM with 27 °C melting point achieved the highest annual energy savings.PCM with

The hybrid system (solar thermal and auxiliary heater) with PCM wallboard has an
economic situation of Iran, applying insulation is far more cost effective than PCM.

The most cost effective EPCM system is Al-Si12 encapsulated with silicon carbide.
that paraffin products need a long time (years or decades) to fully de-

HVAC application of residential building due to provided electricity subsidy by

PCM cost should be below $0.8/kg to reduce the impact on the overall system.
compose and will still have a long-term negative impact on the en-
vironment. On the other hand, vegetable based PCMs are non-carci-
nogenic and tend to be nontoxic to plants and wildlife with no long-
term negative impact on environment. Biodegradability analysis on
biobased PCM products, shows around 80% decomposition within
28 days which makes them favourable and environmentally friendly

Energy savings during both winter and summer periods.

materials.

was 3.32 year with anual saving about 419.22 CNY.

A positive impact of PCMs on the efficiency of a greenhouse heating
system with the aim of reducing energy consumption and carbon
footprint was found by (Benli and Durmuş, 2009a, b; Berroug et al.,
2011; Kooli et al., 2015; Kürklü, 1998; Najjar and Hasan, 2008).

coil proposed as a low cost solution

2.1.4. Economic analysis
The cost and performance of solar collectors are the main factors
influencing the technological and economic feasibility of solar thermal

profile, respectively.
systems. Factors influencing economic justification are higher energy

PCM wallboard.
conversion, lower energy consumption, lower energy loss, higher

government.
Conclusion
equipment efficiency, weather condition and the cost of components.

efficiency.
All above factors affect the payback period. A number of studies have

periods.
addressed the economic analysis of conventional systems (Al-Alili et al.,
2012; Al-Ugla et al., 2016; Calise, 2010; Calise et al., 2011; Eicker and
Pietruschka, 2009; Hang et al., 2011; Tsoutsos et al., 2010), as well as

PCM is placed into the building envelop as a separate layer

Storage module panel filled with PCM and placed inside

Simulation of PCM-wallboards application in residential

Numerical simulation using EnergyPlus ConFD software

Experimental test on solar thermal system coupled with

Numerical simulations of HVAC operation of the PCM
solar absorption systems integrated with PCM. Exergo-economic ana-

PCM wallboard under winter conditions in Tianjin.

lysis and genetic algorithm have been used by Godarzi et al. (Godarzi

incorporated building using EnergyPlus software

EPCM designed to store 29 MWh energy in high

et al., 2013) to design a PCM storage for a 45.4 kW LiBr-H2O system.

building in Kuwait using EnergyPlus simulator

temperature concentrated solar power plants

The result shows that the payback period increases from 0.61 year to
1.13 year if PCM is used. This is due to the high price of PCM. The
theory of exergetic cost and thermo-economic optimization were used
by Misra et al. (Misra et al., 2002) in order to optimize the LiBr-H2O

(Conduction Finite Difference)

the wall and roof construction

single-effect absorption system. Production cost increased by 3.5%

along with 12.5% increase in investment. Even though the system is
more expensive, the energy savings in prolonged operation will cover
the initial cost of the project.
Study condition

The effectiveness of an integrated air to water heat pipe and thermal

storage tank equipped with phase change material has been evaluated.
The result showed, a 50% reduction in heat storage tank volume with
almost no impact on heat supply (Kelly et al., 2014). An overall results
indicate a reduction of 520.8 PJ, the equivalent of 36% of the end-user
energy consumption, is possible if all 17,000 selected houses complete
Encapsulated PCM (Al-Si12, Ca
Rubitherm (RT) organic PCMs

the retrofit program (Asaee et al., 2017). In another study, the techno-
Composite PCM (expanded
BioPCM based on organic

economic aspects of PCM for efficiency improvement of a high tem-

perature concentrated solar power plant was evaluated. It was found
perlite and paraffin)

that the higher energy density achievement could offset the higher cost
PCM-wallboards

of the system (Al-Ugla et al., 2016). A number of techno-economic

compounds

analysis on residential buildings are presented in Table 4.

(NO3)2

Even though, studies show the improvement on environment pro-

PCM

tection, the use of PCM is not always economically viable. The main
Studies on economic analysis of PCM application.

reason is the current PCM market price. This price could drop if gov-
Experimental

ernments apply subsidy or if demand increases which will lead to a

Simulation

Simulation

Simulation

Simulation
Method

higher production volume and lower product cost. As long as PCM is

not introduced to the market on a large scale, the market price will
remain high due to the small production volume. This negatively in-
fluences its current economic viability.
Saffari et al. (Saffari et al., 2016)

Soares et al. (Soares et al., 2017)

Kong et al. (Kong et al., 2020)

Baniassadi et al. (Baniassadi

Jacob (Jacob et al., 2014)

2.2. Material problems and possible solutions

et al., 2016)

In order to understand the problems involved with phase change

materials, the behaviour during melt/freeze cycles needs to be under-
Author

stood. This section discusses problems occurring due to phase separa-

Table 4

tion, thermal conductivity, subcooling and moving boundary (Alva

et al., 2017).

338
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

2.2.1. Phase separation
Phase separation or phase segregation is the change in composition
of PCM over thermal cycles (Khan et al., 2017). This causes problems
with PCMs, especially in the cold thermal storage. As a result of phase
separation, the storage capability reduces progressively. Among the
various types of PCMs, organic materials such as paraffin, fatty acid and
sugar alcohols do not exhibit phase segregation.
Several solutions have been proposed in order to overcome this
issue such as encapsulation, gelling, thickening, etc.
In 2015, Bischifite, a non-metallic PCM, was used in low tempera-
ture solar applications due to its suitable melting point of ~ 100 °C and
low production cost. However, phase segregation was a major concern
which could be solved by encapsulation of the PCM (Shin et al., 2015;
Ushak et al., 2015).
Materials used for encapsulation should have the following char-
acteristics: strength, flexibility, corrosion resistance, and thermal sta-
bility. Two groups of materials have been used in encapsulated PCM
and are presented in Table 5 . The most important findings are briefly
presented below:
overall thermal conductivity and positively increases the heat
transfer. Use of smaller capsules increases the heat transfer surface
and improves the heat transfer.
- Nano-encapsulation of PCMs using metallic nanoparticles as shell
has advantages over microencapsulation (De Matteis et al., 2019).
This method is successful due to the increased surface of nano-
particles, resulting in an increase of heat transfer and due to the
reduced thickness of shells, increasing the fraction of PCM (De
Matteis et al., 2019).
2.2.2. Thermal conductivity
Latent energy storage in PCM requires the thermal energy to flow
into the PCM (Jiang et al., 2018; Lin et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2016; Raam
Dheep and Sreekumar, 2014; Zou et al., 2018). As thermal conductivity
describes the heat flow rate through a material in a temperature gra-
dient, the required time for complete melting of PCM depends on its
thermal conductivity. One of the main disadvantages of organic PCMs is
their poor thermal conductivity. This weakness can be improved using
different methods briefly explained below:

- Encapsulation is successful in increasing the thermal conductivity of
PCM (Jacob and Bruno, 2015). In the majority of macroencapsula-
tions a metallic shell is used, while microencapsulations are mainly
fabricated using plastic shells. The reason is the low cost of available
metallic materials and ease of fabrication on a macro-scale. Simi-
larly, manufacturing plastic shells is easier at micro-scale.
- Parameters that have a positive influence on the melting of en-
capsulated PCMs are high thermal conductivity of shell material,
capsule size and high heat transfer fluid temperature (Salunkhe and
Shembekar, 2012). Higher shell material conductivity improves the
- Increasing the heat transfer surface area to minimize the adverse
effect of poor thermal conductivity.
- Increasing the turbulence of heat transfer fluid which will increase
the contact surface.
- Dispersing particles with high thermal conductivity such as carbon,
graphite or metals into the PCM. The added thermal conductive
materials should be compatible with the PCM.
- PCMs encapsulation with a metal or polymer shell. Encapsulation
can improve heat transfer by increasing the heat transfer surface,
increasing the overall thermal conductivity, decreasing the

Table 5
Materials for encapsulation of PCM (Jacob and Bruno, 2015).
Shell Material Core material Thermal Core theoritical melting Reference
stability (°C) point (°C)

Encapsulation Macroencapsulation Steel Paraffin wax 36 1370 (Vicente and Silva,

material 2014)
Chromium–nickel Copper > 1150 – (Zhang et al., 2014)
Stainless steel 304L Magnesium chloride > 750 – (Zhao et al., 2013)
Stainless steel 304/CS Molten salt > 470 – (Zheng et al., 2013)
1018
Sodium silicate Molten salt 300 1088 (Nath, 2012)
Carbon steel Molten salt 800 1370 (Nath, 2012)
Silicon dioxide Sodium nitrate 300–500 1600 (Pendyala, 2012)
Metallic–ceramic Molten salt 300–800 – (Mathur, 2012)
Nickel Lead 400 1455 (Maruoka and
Akiyama, 2003)
Nickel Copper > 1100 – (Maruoka et al., 2002)

Microencapsulation Titanium dioxide Paraffin wax 240 1843 (Cao et al., 2014)
Sodium silicate n-Octadecane > 375 1088 (He et al., 2014)
M−F Hexadecane 388 – (Khakzad et al., 2014)
VTMS n-Octadecane 318.2 – (Li et al., 2014b)
UFR Stearyl-alcohol 250–350 – (Li et al., 2014a)
Calcium carbonate n-Octadecane 215 825 (Yu et al., 2014)
Carbon Palmitic Acid 180–320 (Tahan Latibari et al.,
2014)
BA–DVB n-Octadecane 380 – (Qiu et al., 2013)
P(MMA-co-DVB) Butyl stearate & 375–475 – (Ma et al., 2012)
paraffin
BMA–MMA copolymer n-Octadecane 385 – (Qiu et al., 2012)
Poly(urethane–urea) Xylitol 350 – (Salaün et al., 2011)
Silicon dioxide Paraffin Paraffin wax 292 1600 (Fang et al., 2010a)
St–MMA Paraffin wax 320 (pure) – (Sánchez-Silva et al.,
2010)
Silica n-Octadecane 325 – (Zhang et al., 2010)
M−F n-Dodecanol 404 (pure) – (Yu et al., 2009)
Polystyrene Paraffin wax 340 – (Sánchez et al., 2007)
Aluminium hydroxide Palmitic Acid 200–520 (Tahan Latibari et al.,
oxide 2015)

339
 F.S. Javadi, et al.

Table 6
Summary of nano-PCM studies.
Author Nano-PCM Methodology Study description Results and remarks

Chaichan et al. (Chaichan et al.,
2015)
Ho and Gao (Ho and Gao, 2013)
Li et al. (Li et al., 2015)
Dhaidan et al. (Dhaidan et al.,
2013a)
Al2O3 + TiO2 paraffin wax
Al2O3 with n-octadecane PCM
Carbon-Nanotube and nanographites
with PCM (Mg(NO3)2··6H2O)
CuO nanoparticles with n-octadecane
PCM
Experimental Thermal conductivity testing of nano-PCM Increase the thermal conductivity with the increase of mass fraction.
Nano-PCM enhances the charging and discharging rates compared to a base
PCM.
Increase of the heat release rate of the nano-PCM reveals its high potential for
diverse thermal energy storage applications.
Experimental The effect of nano-PCM on the melting heat transfer Increasing nanoparticle concentration degrades the energy transfer from the
characteristics fluid to the enclosure.
Experimental Conventional heating and solar illumination. PCM composition with Carbon-nanotube at 0.2 wt% dramatically increases the
melting and solidification rate by > 70%.
The heat transfer performance of nanographites is better than carbon-nanotube
in thermal energy storage applications.
Experimental & Testing inside an annular container under a constant CuO nanoparticles improve the effective thermal conductivity and enhance the
Numerical heat flux melting characteristics of PCM such as increasing the melting rate and
expediting the charging time. The magnitude and rate of enhancement of the
charging time increases with augmenting the applied heat flux or increasing the

340
Dhaidan et al. (Dhaidan et al.,
2013b)
Dhaidan et al. (Dhaidan et al.,
2013c)
Mettawee and Assassa (Mettawee
and Assassa, 2007)
Feng et al. (Feng et al., 2015)
CuO nanoparticles with n-octadecane
PCM
CuO nanoparticles with n-octadecane
PCM
Aluminium powder with paraffin
Water (ice)–Copper nanoparticles
Experimental & Melting of n-octadecane with CuO nanoparticle
Numerical suspensions in a square enclosure with a constant
heat flux
Experimental & Study of constrained melting of nano-PCM in a
Numerical horizontal cylindrical capsule
Experimental Copper pipe embedded inside PCM to carry the heat
transfer fluid inside the solar collector
Numerical Solving the solid–liquid PCM coupled with natural
convection using novel Lattice Boltzmann (LB)
Rayleigh number.
Dispersing the CuO nanoparticle enhances the heat transfer by increasing the
thermal conductivity.
Suitable mixture of nanoparticle and has great potential for improving
traditional thermal energy storage systems by enhancing the thermal
conductivity.
Adding the nanoparticles enhances the effective thermal conductivity of the
PCM and improves the melting process.
The effectivity decreases with increasing nanoparticle concentration due to
viscosity.
This negativity impacts natural convection which is an important heat transfer
mechanism in later stages of melting.
Charging time reduces by 60% for Al-paraffin compared to pure PCM.
Useful heat gained is increased by adding the aluminium powder to the paraffin
wax.
Heat transfer is dominated by conduction in initial melting stage. The
contribution of convection increases gradually. T the melting process and heat
transfer efficiency are enhanced due to improving the thermal conductivity and
decreasing the latent heat of fusion.
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

interaction of PCM with other materials and controlling the volume
change of PCM. The shell material plays a key role in mechanical
strength, chemical and thermal stability, which can lead to the
higher performance of solar system.
Dispersing nanoparticles with high thermal conductivity into PCM
(nano-PCM) is one of the techniques widely used to improve the heat
transfer of PCM (Bazri et al., 2018; Qiu et al., 2019). The result of ex-
perimental and numerical studies on nanoparticle enhanced PCMs are
summarized in Table 6.
Metal nanoparticles are more attractive due to the higher thermal
conductivity. However, the material compatibility should be con-
sidered. Nanoparticle deposition from molten PCM is another issue of
the nano-PCMs, so the stability of nano-PCMs should be tested prior to
use in any application.
2.2.3. Material stability
PCM should keep its original configuration and composition under
various external conditions. Stability is a time-dependent factor that
can change over a time. There are several types of material stability
such as chemical, physical, and thermal.
Thermal stability is important due to the many phase change cycles
a PCM can undergo during its lifetime. Long term instability of PCM can
be the result of poor intrinsic material stability and corrosion between
the PCM and container (Zalba et al., 2003). Special attention should be
paid to the physical and thermal stability of the PCM during many re-
petitions of the heating and cooling cycle to ensure long-term perfor-
mance of storage systems containing PCM (Farid et al., 2004).
Table 7 presents some experimental studies on the stability of PCM.
The presented studies confirmed the importance of thermal and
chemical stability of PCM as well as corrosion resistance of the con-
tainer material. The thermophysical properties of PCM should not
change after repeated cycles. It is found that the thermal and chemical
stability of paraffin is better than salt hydrates after repeated thermal
cycles. This is due to phase separation and subcooling of salt hydrates.
It is highly advised to check the PCM thermophysical stability using
repeated thermal cycle prior to industrial application.
2.2.4. Moving boundary
The interface separating solid and liquid phases during phase
change travels, which gives rise to the moving boundary problem (Jiji,
2009). This is a dynamic problem in which the motion and location of
the interface are unknown and must be determined. Since material
properties for solid and liquid are different, each phase must be as-
signed its own properties function. Prediction of the PCM behaviour at
the phase change boundary, the mushy zone, is difficult due to different
behaviour in solid and liquid phases. Recently, the moving boundary
discussed by Turkyilmazoglu (Turkyilmazoglu, 2018) and Singh et al.

Table 7
Summary of PCMs sability studies.
Author PCM Method Results and remarks

Behzadi and Farid (Behzadi
and Farid, 2014)
Tang et al. (Tang et al., 2014)
Kimura and Kai (Kimura and
Kai, 1984)
Soong Mengjie (Mengjie et al.,
2017)
Aran Sole et al. (Solé et al.,
2014)
K.P. Venkitaraj and S. Suresh
(Venkitaraj and Suresh,
2017)
M. Mehrali et al. (Mehrali
et al., 2013)
S.Y. Kee et al. (Kee et al.,
2017)
M. Silakhori et al. (Silakhori
et al., 2014)
Rubitherm 21 (RT21, a paraffin mixture)
and propyl stearic and palmitate mixture
Polyethylene glycol/SiO2–Al2O3
Salt CaCl2·6H2O
Capric & Myristic acid (Organic binary
PCM)
Sugar alcohols (Myo-inositol, Galactitol
and D-mannitol)
Pentaerythritol (PE) (Poly alcohols)
mixed with low metal alloy (LMA)
Paraffin graphene oxide (GO)
composition
Composite of polymethyl methacrylate
(PMMA) and myristic acid (MA) coated
with polyacrylic and conformal
A novel myristic acid (MA)/polypyrrole
(PPy)
Experimental test after an exposure to
storage temperatures of 30 °C and
55 °C
Experimental ultrasound-assisted
sol–gel method
Experimental test on improving the
cycle stability
Experimental test on thermal stability
Experimental test on cycling and
thermal
Experimentally use additives to
improve thermal cycling stability
Experimental using thermal cycling
test
Experimental test using
thermogravimetric analyser
Experimental test using thermal
cycling
The result showed irreversible physical change. Latent heat
of fusion increased from 134 J/g to 170 J/g and peak
melting point shifted from 21 °C to 28 °C over a period of
120 days at 55 °C.
The mixed esters experienced almost no change in mass due
to their lower vapour pressure.
Thermal conductivity increased significantly by adding
Al2O3 to the PCM.
12.8% reduction of freezing time achieved for 3.3 wt%
Al2O3 during freezing test.
The best thermal stability achieved at temperature below
290 °C.
After 1000 heating–cooling cycles, the PCM was found very
stable by adding NaCl.
Phase change temperature remains unchaged.
Heat of fusion decreased only 8.88 J/g, or 4.55% after
2,000 thermal cycles.
Myo-inositol presents polymorphic changes when it is
analysed from 50 °C to 260 ℃. However, no negative effect
found on the stability.
Poor thermal stability observed after 18th cycle. The
solidification temperature changed gradually from 102 °C
to 60 °C.
D-Mannitol was shown instable due to reacting with oxygen
from the atmosphere.
Changes in material thermal behaviour observed during
thermal cycling test at elevated temperatures.
Test results showed the reduction of heat flow value by 6%
after 100 cycles.
No chemical degradation was found in PE/LMA samples.
Therefore, chemical stability in thermal cycling is
confirmed.
Adding GO improves the thermal stability of PCM
composition.
The result showed a good thermal reliability in terms of
properties and chemical stability after 2500 cycles.
The result confirmed enhancement of thermal stability by
prolonging the decomposition due to added coating.
All the picks of 1000 repeated thermal cycle are consistent
which confirms the good chemical reliability.
A form-stable novel PCM showed a favorable thermal
reliability after 2500 cycling test.
Experiments confirmed favorable thermal properties,
thermal reliability and chemical stability.

341
F.S. Javadi, et al.
(Singh et al., 2019b). Some analytical solutions have been proposed to
solve the problem by taking constant and variable thermal coefficients,
respectively. Augspurger and Udaykumar (Augspurger and Udaykumar,
2017) proposed enthalpy-porosity method to determine the melting
boundary. Resolving the phase change interface situation can improve
problems involving PCMs moving boundary (Singh et al., 2019a)
2.2.5. Subcooling
Subcooling means that the PCM remains liquid at a temperature
below its equilibrium freezing point. This causes a delay of the phase
change process and reduces the latent heat storage capability. This
phenomenon occurs in cooling applications and negatively impacts the
cooling performance.
Therefore, from the performance point of view, PCMs with little or
no subcooling are the best choice (Abhat, 1980; Farid et al., 2004; Li
et al., 2013). Among the various types of PCMs, each group has a dif-
ferent subcooling behaviour. Paraffins and fatty acids freeze with little
or no subcooling. Eutectic water-salt solutions have high latent heat and
desirable melting temperature but have subcooling problems; while
non-eutectic water-salt solutions do not exhibit very high subcooling.
As a solution, adding a nucleating agent helps to minimize subcooling.
Several publications discuss the factors that influence the degree of
subcooling, mechanism and the effect on output capacity.
To summarise the important properties, it can be concluded that the
main obstacles to commercial implementation of PCM are low thermal
conductivity and long term payback period of investment. Despite the
fact that there are many studies available on improvement of thermal
conductivity, there is no evidence of a commercially viable improve-
ment method to improve thermal conductivity for PCMs with high heat
of fusion. All available studies were directed at physical methods for
thermal conductivity improvement such as increasing surface area,
Fig. 7. Applications involving PCM.
342
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
increasing turbulence of heat transfer fluid, dispersing high conductive
particles and encapsulation. However, chemical methods to modify the
material have not been studied. There is no direct environmental im-
pact of PCMs during use as long as they do not leak out of the device but
production and end-of-life disposal should still be considered.
3. PCM application
There has been an increase in the use of PCM, especially for heating
and cooling purposes. Some applications are described in Fig. 7 and the
most relevant works are present in the following sections.
3.1. PCM thermal application
3.1.1. Solar water & air heater
Domestic solar hot water heating is one of the earliest and most
common applications of solar energy. The interest in Solar Flat
Collector (SFC) for water heating increased especially after the oil crisis
in 1973. Solar air heaters follow the same concept as solar water heaters
but use air instead of water as thermal fluid. They are mainly used for
space heating during winter or in cold environments. Global warming
and the negative side effects of fossil fuel are the main reasons for the
further technological and economical improvement of solar heating
systems, such as the integration of heating systems with energy storage.
In order to have a more comprehensive overview of the application
of PCMs in solar water and air heater systems, some of relevant work in
this field is presented in Table 8.
Performance and financial justification of solar water and air hea-
ters are common topics in available studies. The performance improves
as a result of conserving more energy and improving deliverables. On
the other hand, the high cost of PCM in the market has negative impact
 F.S. Javadi, et al.

Table 8
Application of phase change material in solar water and air heater.
Author PCM System Results and remarks

M.H. Mahfuz et al. (Mahfuz et al., 2014)
A. Papadimitratos et al. (Papadimitratos et al.,
2016)
P. Felinski and R. Sekret (Feliński and Sekret,
2017)
Paraffin wax
Tritriacontane and erythritol
Hydrotreated technical grade
paraffin
Solar water heater
Evacuated solar water heater
Evacuated tube solar water heater
Solar collector integrated with thermal energy storage unit improves the energy efficiency by reducing the energy
losses.
With increasing flow rate of the heat transfer fluid, the efficiency could be increased to 77%.
Using higher flow rate of the heat transfer fluid reduces the total life cycle cost by 7%.
The integrated PCM inside the inner tube of evacuated tube solar collectors improve the storage capability by
delaying cooling after sunset.
Dual-PCM solar water heaters improve the efficiency significantly for both normal and stagnant operation compared
with solar collector without PCM.
Evacuated tube solar collector filled with paraffin is able to store excess heat for evening consumption.
The water temperature in the domestic hot water tank increased during low radiation intensities and hot water peak
load due to the presence of PCM as latent heat storage material.
PCM with a higher melting point could contribute to a higher solar fraction during the summer period.
During the cold season, the PCM may not reach the phase transition temperature.

343
A.E.Kabeel et al. (Kabeel et al., 2016b)
Amol Wadhawan et al. (Wadhawan et al., 2017)
Aymen El Khadraoui (El Khadraoui et al., 2016)
M.S.Naghavi et al. (Naghavi et al., 2017)
Paraffin wax Flat and v-corrugated plate solar The outlet temperature of v-corrugated plate solar air heater with built in PCM underneath the absorber plate was
air heater higher than the ambient temperature by 1.5–7.2 °C for period of 3.5 h after sunset.
The daily efficiency of v-corrugated solar air heater improved by 12% in case of using PCM.
The daily efficiency of v-corrugated solar air heater was higher than flat plate solar air heater by 15% and 21.3%
with and without using PCM, respectively.
Decreasing the PCM layer thickness resulted in a slight increase of the air temperature difference across the heater
during PCM melting and decrease during PCM solidification.
Lauric acid Flat plat solar air heater The output air temperature increased when PCM was inserted in the path of incoming air.
An average increment of 86% in output air temperature is recorded.
Paraffin wax Fabricated flat plate solar air Increase of the outlet air temperature between 3 °C and 7 °C when using PCM.
heater Using PCM increases the thermal efficiency of the solar air heater.
Solar air heater with PCM creates a passive dehumidification due to the higher outlet temperature.
Paraffin wax Prototype heat pipe solar Solar collector heat pipe integrated with latent heat storage material is able to provide higher volume of hot water
collector compare to the traditional solar water heater.
Low thermal conductivity of paraffin has positive impact on preventing heat loss from tank to ambient for long-term
heat storage.
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al.
on the financial justification. There are two proposed policies to reduce
the cost of PCMs, increasing government support by providing subsidy
and increasing the production volume as a result of high demand.
3.1.2. Solar stills
Underground water quality is affected by the use of agrochemicals,
making it harder to provide clean water (Shukla et al., 2017). Con-
ventional water purification consumes large amount of fossil fuels or
electricity. A solar still is a green alternative to distilled water using
solar radiation for purification. An important feature of solar stills is
that ultraviolet radiation kills viruses, bacteria and parasites. This
method is attractive for use in rural and remote areas which have
limited access to clean drinking water. There are several solar still de-
signs, which can be categorised as active and passive as shown in Fig. 8.
In recent years, improvement of solar distillation with the help of
PCM has been studied widely. The results of these studies are sum-
marised in Table 9.
An overview of PCM based solar stills is presented and it can be
concluded that the productivity of solar stills can be enhanced by using
latent heat storage materials. Passive solar stills are simple in design,
fabrication and have low cost of water production which makes them
more attractive. However, low water productivity and low efficiency
are the main drawbacks. This indicates a possible direction for future
development and commercialisation of enhanced passive PCM based
solar stills.
3.1.3. Solar thermal electricity
A solar thermal electricity (STE) power plant generates electricity
using high temperature steam (400–1000 °C) produced by con-
centrating solar power (Crespo; et al., 2017). In the last decade, STE has
rapidly become a reliable electricity generation solution. At the end of
2015, there was a total STE operational capacity of 4.9 GW. STE is
expected to be able to generate 12% of the world’s projected power
need in 2050.
Conventional STE power plants incorporate molten salt as an in-
direct sensible storage medium with high thermal density (Kuravi et al.,
2013). The molten salt is heated by a HTF from the solar farm and the
temperature increases from 292 °C to the highest storage temperature of
385 °C. In a reverse process, the heat is transferred from hot molten salt
to the HTF, which generates steam to run the power plant. In modern
STE power plant design, PCMs with a capability of near isothermal high
latent heat storage are proposed as a cheaper and more efficient solu-
tion. Two concepts have been studied: shell and tube heat exchangers
with PCM in shell side or storage tanks filled with encapsulated PCM. In
both cases, the PCM was selected based on the HTF outlet temperature
from the solar field to maximize the heat storage capacity.
A thermal model was proposed by Pirasaci and Goswami (Pirasaci
and Goswami, 2016) to optimize a latent heat storage unit for a direct
steam generator using a mixture of NaCl-MgCl2 eutectic as PCM. The
model showed the effectiveness of storage using phase change material.
Introducing PCM as an energy storage system for a solar power plant
Fig. 8. Classification of Solar Distillation Process.
344
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
reduces the environmental impact and balances the energy saving
compared to sensible heat storage systems (Oró et al., 2012a). Tamme
et al. (Tamme et al., 2007) demonstrated significant increase of effi-
ciency in the case of using expanded graphite PCM composite as a
storage material in the range of 120–300 °C for a solar thermal power
plant.
A cascade type PCM storage system is evaluated by Prieto and
Cabeza. (Prieto and Cabeza, 2019). The series of PCMs are selected
based on the required technical specifications and cost. The result from
the annual transient simulations of the plant performance shows that
cumulative power production is similar to the conventional plant. It is
very important to understand the limitations of real experiments on the
power plant scale which involves a huge amount of investment and
time. This emphasises the importance of simulation studies in this field.
Life cycle and stability of PCMs used in STE power plants are very
important design factors. This is due to the high cost of investment and
high melting temperature which may affect the functionality of PCM
over time. Available studies on the stability of high temperature PCMs
suitable to be used in STE power plants are presented in Table 10.
High latent heat of fusion and high melting temperature are the
most important factors to select PCMs for STE power plant application.
Among materials experimentally tested, nitrate salts are used ex-
tensively. This is mainly due to their favourable thermal properties and
low cost.
3.2. PCM cooling application
Since the seventies, the use of solar energy as the driver of an ab-
sorption refrigeration system and air conditioning has been widely
studied. The scheme of this concept is depicted in Fig. 9. It consists of
three main components; a solar thermal system, a cooling system driven
by thermal energy, and a conditioned space or building.
A solar thermal system is a thermal energy convertor which absorbs
solar radiation and transfers it to a working fluid in the form of thermal
energy (de Gracia and Cabeza, 2015). It is one of the best ways of
utilizing solar energy for various applications such as heating and
cooling. The energy conversion takes place either for direct usage or
indirect by storing energy for later usage.
Intermittent availability of solar energy and solar intensity varia-
tions are the major weakness of solar energy for continuous thermal
applications. Thermal energy storage (TES) is a solution to improve the
availability, performance and thermal reliability of the system.
Solar thermal systems are mostly used for heating and cooling ap-
plications (Khan et al., 2017). Heating application is the simplest and
direct use of the solar energy. On the other hand, the application of
solar energy for cooling purposes needs an interface or energy con-
version system most often in the form of solar air condition and chiller.
HVAC cooling application in tropical countries and cooled or chilled
water production for industrial applications are a few examples. Among
the various types of available chillers, the absorption chiller is the most
efficient refrigeration system due to low energy consumption and the

Table 9
Experimental Studies on solar distilled process integrated with PCM.
PCM Author
Paraffin wax Radhwan (Radhwan, 2005)
Tabrizi et al. (Tabrizi et al., 2010)
Mohan et al. (Mohan et al., 2011)
Dashtban and Tabrizi (Dashtban and Tabrizi,
2011)
Sathyamurthy et al. (Sathyamurthy et al.,
2014)
Kumar (Kumar et al., 2015)
Kabeel and Abdelgaied (Kabeel and
Abdelgaied, 2016)
Mohan et al. (Mohan et al., 2012)
345
Arunkumar et al. (Arunkumar et al., 2013)
Kabeel et al. (Kabeel et al., 2016a)
Quartzite Rock, Cement, tones Kalidasa Murugavel (Kalidasa Murugavel
et al., 2010)
Lauric acid Alhamadani and Shukla (Alhamadani and
Shukla, 2012)
Black ink Akash et al. (Akash et al., 1998)
Bitumen Kantesh (Kantesh, 2012)
Stearic acid Ajeet Kumar Rai (Ajeet Kumar Rai, 2013)
System
Stepped solar still
Cascade solar stills
Still with solar concentrator
Weir-type cascade solar still
Triangular pyramid solar still
Double slope solar still
Single slope
Solar concentrated distiller
Concentrator-coupled hemispherical basin
solar still
Double passes solar air collector
Single basin double slope solar still
Single slope-single basin solar still
Passive Destillation
Double slope solar still
Tubular solar still
F.S. Javadi, et al.
Conclusion Type
The solar still efficiency increases 16% when using paraffin wax. Passive
aily yield decreases by 0.3 L/m2 for the solar still with PCM.
Productivity (fresh water production) increases by 50% higher productivity in a cloudy day. Passive
Slight reduction in daily productivity in case of using PCM for a sunny day.
The solar still productivity with PCM is 54% higher than conventional unit. Passive
Overall thermal efficiency increases from 47% to 64% by using PCM. Passive
Productivity improves by 31%.
Solar still efficiency increases by 35% by using PCM. Passive
Overall 61% productivity gains when using paraffin wax in solar still. Passive
Freshwater productivity increases to 3.03 L/m2 day when using PCM. Passive
Higher daily productivity by 68%.
The cost of distillate water production reduces by 0.002 $ per litter.
The water output of distiller equipped with sponge increased to 43% in latent heat storage distiller Active
while comparing with the plain basin type.
The water output of distiller equipped with sponge and pebbles increased to 40% in latent heat storage
distiller while comparing to the conventional distiller.
Maximum 48% productivity achieved when mild steel scrap is added.
Productivity of 4.46 L/m2/day and 3.52 L/m2/day with and without PCM are achieved, respectively. Active
2 2
Daily freshwater productivity of 9.36 L/m and 4.5 L/m achieved for PCM and conventional still, Active
respectively.
Productivity increment of 108% is recorded.
Most effective basin material in this study is quartzite rock compare to the others in this study. Passive
Higher still productivity by 127% and 30% with PCM at night and day, respectively. Passive
Higher PCM effect on productivity at night.
Water productivity enhancement using black ink by 60%. Passive
Higher distilled water output by 2% and 1.96% using PCM with 1.5 cm and 2.0 cm water, Passive
respectively.
Solar still efficiency of 27% using PCM compare to 25% without PCM.
Higher productivity by 20% when using PCM. Passive
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al. Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352

Table 10
Latent heat storage material life cycle and stability tests for STE power plant application.
Author Material Number of cycle Temperature °C Conclusions

Sun et al. (Sun et al., 2007) 60 wt% Al/34% Mg/6% Zn alloy 1000 25–550 Melting point decreases by 5.3 °C.
Latent heat decreases by 11%.
Overall good thermal stability.
Lopez et al. (Lopez et al., 2010) 50 mol% NaNO3/KNO3 > 100 175–275 No subcooling.
No thermochemical instability.
Bauer et al. (Bauer et al., 2009) Sodium nitrate 2600 h 350 Small amount of nitrate forms at 350 °C.
Overall good thermally stability.
Maru et al. (Maru et al., 1978) LiKCO3 (intermediate compound of 35 wt% Li2CO3/ 129 430–535 High degree of stability.
65% K2CO3 mixture) Melting point decreases slightly.
No composition change.
Takahashi et al. (Takahashi et al., 18.5 mol% NaNO3-81.5% NaOH 1000 230–300 Material shows little changes.
1988) Overall good stability.
Petri et al. (Petri et al., 1979) Li2CO3 13 676–776 Oxidation and carburization of canister.
Petri et al. (Petri et al., 1979) Na2CO3 21 809–908 Corrosion observed on heat exchanger tube.
Slight leakage observed around
thermocouple fittings.
Petri et al. (Petri et al., 1979) 52.2 wt% BaCO3-47.8% Na2CO3 36 636–736 Salt shows stable properties.
Salt shows high compatibility with container
material.
Petri et al. (Petri et al., 1979) 81.3 wt% Na2CO3-18.7% K2CO3 38 737–797 Salt melts incongruently.
Overall good stability.

economic feasibility which can be integrated with solar system. charging efficiency was demonstrated both experimentally and by
Phase change materials are used in different parts of a cooling mathematical simulation. It was shown that the use of PCM could result
system as explained in the following sections: in a reduction of 13–16% of electricity consumption in a small office
which requires a 40 kW cooling load.
A novel inorganic (HS-W1) and an organic (HS-W2) PCM along with
3.2.1. Air conditioning
Paraffin C15 were developed and used in a conventional air con-
Load fluctuation is one of the parameters that directly affects the
ditioning system (Li et al., 2018). The tests were performed to evaluate
functionality of an air condition unit. During fast changes in the con-
the performance of the air conditioning while integrated with phase
trolled environment, the cooling power should adapt fast enough in
change material. The phase change temperatures of the newly devel-
order to keep the environment within set limits. An experimental study
oped materials were 5.3, 6.5, and 10 °C under standards condition. A
was performed by Nie et al. (Nie et al., 2017) on the charging beha-
numerical Ansys-Fluent model was developed to analyse the charging
viours of a compact energy storage device filled with PCM (melting
process of the multi-PCM unit, and an experimental set up was built in
temperature of 18 °C and latent heat of 220 kJ/kg) for train air con-
order to validate the model. The multi-PCM improves the charging
ditioning with the target of minimizing the air quality disruption due to
capacity compare to the single-PCM by 32%. Another interesting point
load fluctuation. It confirms the excellent heat transfer behaviours of
was that by lowering the heat transfer fluid inlet temperature, the
the designed device with an energy efficiency of up to 87%. The study
charging capacity increases which obviously resulted in a shorter
also showed that the charging time can be shortened by reducing the
charging time.
inlet air temperature and increasing the air velocity.
Allouche et al. (Li et al., 2018) developed a TRaNsient System Si-
A prototype cold storage using phase change material was designed
mulation program (TRANSYS) to compute the performance assessment
by De Falco et al. (De Falco et al., 2016) to store cold energy for civil
of a solar driven air conditioning system integrated with PCM (paraffin)
applications. The storage tank integrated with eutectic alloy RT6HC
cold storage. The simulation was based on 140 m3 space during summer
PCM is designed to decrease the electricity peak load in a traditional
season in Tunis, Tunisia. The model confirmed an improvement of the
chiller fan coil system in order to avoid the summer peaks for air
cooling cycle COP with solar thermal ratio values up to 100%. It was
conditioning. The test was performed in a real environment and high

Fig. 9. Scheme of the solar driven cooling system.

346

Table 11
Studies on refrigeration evaporator integrated with PCM (Khan et al., 2017).
Author
Elarem et al. (Elarem et al., 2017)
Md Imran Hossen and M.M. Afroz (Md
Imran Hossen and M.M. Afroz,
2013)
Gin and Farid (Gin and Farid, 2010)
347
Wang et al. (Wang et al., 2007c)
Azzouz et al. (Azzouz et al., 2009)
Marques at al.
(Marques et al., 2013)
Azzouz et al (Azzouz et al., 2008)
Oró et al. (Oró et al., 2012b)
Method PCM
Experimental, Simulation Plus-ICE (organic) (Melting @ 4 ℃)
& Modelling
Experimental Water and eutectic solution (melting@ 0
℃ & −5 ℃)
Experimental Eutectic composition of water and
ammonium chloride (melting@ −15.4
℃)
Mathematical & Modelling E21 salt eutectic (melting @ 4.2 ℃)
Experimental Eutectic aqueous solution (melting@
−3 ℃)
Experimental & Numerical Eutectic mixtures (water + salt)
(melting@ −2 ℃ to −6 ℃)
Numerical Eutectic aqueous solution (melting@
−9 ℃)
Experimental Climsel-18 (melting@ −18 ℃)
Study condition
PCM covers the evaporator. The air inside the compartment
has direct contact with PCM to ensure that the heat can be
absorbed by PCM
PCM container on the evaporator outside surface at different
thermal loads
PCM panels placed against the internal walls
PCM heat exchanger at the outlet of evaporator
PCM is located on the back side of the evaporator
Modelling the household refrigerator temperature stability
with different PCMs applied into the storage compartment
PCM slab on the outside face of a refrigerator evaporator.
PCM placed on top of evaporator tubes of commercial
freezers
F.S. Javadi, et al.
Result
Reducing the required time for temperature stabilization by
67% to 86% in various configurations. Reduced energy
consumption.
Rapidly stabilizes and homogenize the temperature.
The racks covered with more PCM can achieve the
stabilized temperature in shorter time.
COP improvement by 20–27% depending on the load and
PCM type.
Reduction of the average compressor running time by
2–36%.
Dampening temperature fluctuations.
Less thermal losses and smaller ice crystal size.
System stabilization enhancement.
Dampening evaporator outlet temperature fluctuation.
Stabilization of the refrigerant temperature and reduction of
the compressor inlet temperature peak.
Temperature rise during loss of power is limited.
COP enhancement by 30%.
Horizontal PCM configuration produces lower compartment
temperatures.
Energy saving of 19% when applying eutectic PCM with
phase change temperature below 0 °C.
COP enhancement by 5–15%.
PCM could maintain freezer temperature almost constant
between −12 °C and −14 °C for > 3 h of power failure.
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
F.S. Javadi, et al.
also revealed that the PCM has a positive impact on the system op-
eration stability.
Many more studies have been conducted on PCM application in air
conditioning which are briefly explained here:
- Operating performance of a cool storage air conditioning with en-
capsulated water as PCM was tested experimentally (Fang et al.,
2010b). It was found that the system equipped with PCM has better
performance and can stably work during charging and discharging
period.
- Thermal performance of an air conditioner integrated with
Rubitherm20 as PCM was studied in subtropical climate in Thailand
(Chaiyat, 2015). The cost saving due to efficiency improvement was
9% with an investment payback period of 4.15 years.
- An air conditioner system integrated with a PCM with 220 kJ/kg
latent heat of fusion and thermal conductivity of 1.5 W/m.K was
tested in Adelaide (Bruno et al., 2014). As a result, 85% of energy
consumption was shifted to off-peak period along with 13.5% en-
ergy saving.
- An air conditioning system integrated with R22 PCM was tested in
USA (Zhao and Tan, 2015). The COP increased by 25.6%.
- An air distribution system equipped with paraffin wax inside the
storage tank was simulated by (Yamaha and Misaki, 2006). The si-
mulation results confirmed that the PCM is able to absorb tem-
perature fluctuation during the discharging period. It also con-
tributed to an electricity peak shaving for the building.
3.2.2. Absorption refrigeration/chiller
A solar absorption refrigeration system (Khan et al., 2017) is a re-
frigeration system integrated with a solar collector to provide the en-
ergy needed to drive the cooling process. The main components of the
system are solar collector, generator, condenser, evaporator, absorber,
heat exchanger, pumps and heat transfer fluid of either NH3-H2O
(ammonia-water) or LiBr (lithium bromide). Latent heat storage ma-
terials can be used in different sections of the system in order to im-
prove the overall cooling efficiency. The efficiency of the absorption
refrigeration system is defined as useful thermal energy output divided
by heat input. Therefore, increasing the performance of each section of
the system or increasing the cooling output could have positive effect
on the overall performance of the solar absorption chiller.
The primary function of the generator is to generate heat in order to
evaporate the refrigerant. A numerical investigation on erithritol as a
PCM integrated with a vertical generator of a solar absorption air
conditioning system using TRANSYS was conducted by
Ponshanmugakumar et al. (Ponshanmugakumar et al., 2015). This
confirmed that the auxiliary heating can be reduced during the peak
load or low solar intensity condition.
The condenser is used to remove the latent heat from the re-
frigerant, lowering down the sub-cooled refrigerant temperature, and
stabilizing the superheat (Cheng et al., 2011; Cheng and Yuan, 2013;
Cheng et al., 2010). The main intention of using PCM in the condenser
is to reduce the refrigerant condensing temperature as much as pos-
sible. This will increase the performance of the system. However, it may
have a negative impact on the compressor lifetime due to frequent
compressor on–off switching and extending the heat rejection process.
Wang et al. (Wang et al., 2007a, b, c) tested different models of
placing PCM at different locations in the refrigeration system such as
between compressor and condenser and between condenser and ex-
pansion valve. They found that the COP increases by 8% PCM was
placed between condenser and expansion valve and by 6% when PCM
was placed between compressor and condenser. The result from placing
the PCM tank between the evaporator and compressor showed an im-
provement in control of fluctuations in the cooling load and system
stabilization.
PCM utilization in the evaporator in order to improve the perfor-
mance of absorption cooling systems has been studied by several
348
Solar Energy 206 (2020) 330–352
researchers. Optimizing the evaporator temperature and enhancing the
cooling performance are the main targets. The results of these studies
are shown in Table 11.
The benefits and bottlenecks of PCMs in thermal and cooling ap-
plications are presented in this section. It can be concluded that
available studies are focused more on thermal applications than cooling
applications. This is due to the fact that data on PCMs with high melting
temperature is more available and experiments on thermal applications
are much easier and simpler than cooling applications. Cooling appli-
cations are more complex and involve with expensive technologies such
as absorption chillers.
Heating applications mainly use PCMs with a melting temperature
in the range of 20–100 °C, except for solar thermal electricity with
melting temperature range in the of 400–1000 °C. On the other hand,
cooling applications need a PCM with a melting temperature in the
range of − 20–20 °C. It should be highlighted that PCM applications at
lower temperature (below − 20 °C) have hardly been explored and
could be a potential field for the future research.
4. Future directions and recommendations
Considering the presented studies, the main question is, how PCM
can contribute further in energy application technologies. It is neces-
sary to grow the market of PCM applications in order to reduce the
production cost which will then increase the economic viability.
Therefore, the demand will increase in the market and create more
opportunities for improvement.
The future challenges for PCM and possible future directions will be
reviewed.
Several recommendations could be suggested for future research:
1. Improving the performance, efficiency, reliability and reducing the
overall cost (initial and life cycle cost) are the main challenges as-
sociated with the application of PCM. Theoretically, LHS with PCM
is a useful method to store energy and reduce energy losses.
However, some bottlenecks still need to be overcome, which are low
thermal conductivity, compatibility with other materials, sub-
cooling and phase separation.
2. Thermal conductivity improvement has been studied using various
physical methods such as increasing surface area, increasing tur-
bulence of heat transfer fluid, dispersing high conductive particles
and encapsulation. Chemical methods to improve thermophysical
behaviour have not been investigated.
3. Most studied PCMs have a melting temperature in the range of −
20 °C and 100 °C. There is a potential need to investigate applica-
tions beyond this range. Even though PCM applications beyond this
temperature range are complicated and difficult in terms of equip-
ment and process safety, it is a great opportunity to discover the
possibility of heat storage applications above 100 °C and below −
20 °C.
4. The high corrosion rate caused by organic PCMs should be im-
proved. This is one of the main bottlenecks which makes them less
favourable than inorganic PCMs.
5. Conclusions
Energy storage and efficiency has boosted the research effort in the
field of phase change materials over the past decades. The funda-
mentals of PCM are comprehensively reviewed in this study, consisting
of PCM categories, applications and bottlenecks with special attention
to the integration of PCM in solar thermal applications.
PCMs have a great potential for thermal storage compared to sen-
sible heat storage materials. However, many PCMs suffer from low
thermal conductivity which creates a low thermal diffusion rate and
reduces the practical storage capability. This is a main reason that many
of the recent publications are directed at resolving thermophysical
F.S. Javadi, et al.
issues of PCMs such as low thermal conductivity, high subcooling, cy-
cling instability and high manufacturing cost. Organic PCMs provide
better thermophysical properties than inorganic in few aspects such as
latent heat of fusion, energy density, thermal conductivity and the cost.
However, subcooling and high corrosion rate are still the main issues of
organic PCMs which need to be overcome. A final concern is the
compatibility of PCM with the environment. This points to the desir-
ability of organic PCMs which derive from non-fossil fuels.
This review also discussed the integration of PCM with solar thermal
systems which form the most promising source of free and clean energy.
Introducing PCMs in thermal storage applications is growing in recent
years. It is very beneficial in terms of reducing energy consumption by
conserving energy in the form of latent heat, decreasing temperature
fluctuation by absorbing excess energy, reducing electricity consump-
tion and shifting the peak loads of cooling energy demands.
One of the most common applications of PCM is energy storage for
building including living spaces. Therefore, the health and environ-
mental aspects are of paramount importance and should be taken into
account more seriously. Further developments in the materials science
of PCMs should allow novel engineering solutions for the application of
PCM in solar thermal systems as part of a clean energy roadmap.
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