Performance-enhancement of phase change materials for energy conservation in the built environment : a state-of-the-art review

Abstract

Energy conservation has become a critical issue in the world today as strong economic growth is unfeasible without a sustainable strategy of energy conservation. Apart from long-term environmental impact, a well-managed strategy for energy consumption even results in improvement of the financial performance in the short term. Phase change materials (PCMs) with its capacity of storing thermal energy as latent heat is a viable approach of the utilization of solar heat, a green source of energy, and the optimization of energy consumption in buildings. However, the obstacle that prevents PCMs from being applied widely in practice comes from its poor performance in terms of heat transfer and shape stabilization. This article, therefore, presents a critical review of PCM and effective methods to boost its performance in terms of shape stabilization and transient heat transfer.