Hybrid solar-phase change material (PCM) energy-storage systems are emerging as an effective pathway to mitigate solar intermittency, reduce thermal losses, and improve the operational performance of photovoltaic (PV), photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T), and solar-thermal systems. This review critically evaluates recent progress in PCM selection, encapsulation, heat-transfer enhancement, charging/discharging behavior, system integration, and optimization strategies for solar applications. Unlike earlier reviews that treated materials, collectors, economics, or control separately, the present study integrates these aspects within a single engineering assessment framework. Reported studies show that PCM integration can reduce PV operating temperature by about 5-12°C, improve electrical efficiency by about 3-15%, enhance thermal efficiency in PV/T and solar-thermal systems by up to 15-25%, and extend useful heat delivery for several hours beyond peak irradiance. The review further examines the roles of non-concentrating and concentrating collectors, nano-enhanced PCMs, nanofluids, and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled control in improving thermal response and storage effectiveness. The study also supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7, 9, 11, 12, and 13 through cleaner energy use, efficient thermal management, and sustainable system design. Persistent challenges include low thermal conductivity, cyclic degradation, high encapsulation costs, limited standardization, and limited long-term field validation.
Jayabal et al. (Fri,) studied this question.