A Review on Shape Stabilized Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage Applications

Thermal energy storage (TES) using solar energy is one of the most prominent techniques to store the energy and reduce to gap between energy demand and supply. There are many useful applications that can be fuelled by TES. Phase change materials (PCM) as TES materials are of great importance as far as the energy storage applications are concerned. However, there are various bottleneck problems with pure PCM like liquid phase leakage, low thermal conductivity, supercooling etc. To overcome this deficit, highly porous foam is used to improve the leakage problem of PCMs during phase transition. Additionally, nanoparticles and nucleating agent are the most commonly employed in-practice approaches to get rid of the issue of low thermal conductivity and supercooling, respectively. In addition, even after being subjected to multiple heat cycles, foam-stabilized PCM composites showed remarkable stability without being degraded. This paper discusses the major foams that has been incorporated with different PCMs along with their critical outcomes. This paper also discusses the significant uses of foam stable PCMs reported by several researchers. As a result of its high latent heat, good thermal conductivity, balanced chemical compatibility, and high thermal stability, the foam-stable PCM composite is a viable choice for thermal-energy management systems.