Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, cilt.178, sa.P1, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Phase change materials (PCMs) have emerged as promising thermal energy storage media for improving energy efficiency, thermal regulation, and operational safety across multiple engineering applications. This review presents a comparative assessment of PCM-based thermal management strategies in solar energy systems, lithium-ion battery thermal management, building technologies, and advanced thermal energy storage applications. A structured literature screening methodology was adopted, in which 108 scientific publications were systematically evaluated using major scientific databases, and 60 representative studies published primarily between 2020 and 2025 were selected for detailed comparative analysis. The assessment focuses on thermal conductivity enhancement, latent heat storage behavior, cyclic stability, leakage suppression, thermal runaway mitigation, energy efficiency improvement, and practical implementation challenges.The reviewed studies indicate that PCM-integrated systems can improve thermal and energy performance significantly depending on application conditions. In building technologies, PCM integration provides energy savings generally ranging between 20 and 30% through passive thermal regulation and load shifting. In solar energy systems, PCM-assisted thermal buffering improves photovoltaic and thermal system stability, while geometry-assisted configurations and optimized melting point selection further enhance charging/discharging behavior. In lithium-ion battery systems, PCM-based thermal management can reduce battery temperatures from approximately 65 °C to 40 °C, suppress thermal runaway propagation, and improve battery lifespan by nearly 15%. Recent studies further demonstrate that conductive enhancement approaches based on expanded graphite, MXene networks, metal foams, nanofluids, and hybrid conductive architectures can substantially improve heat transfer performance while maintaining acceptable latent heat storage capacity.The review also highlights that PCM performance cannot be evaluated solely through direct numerical comparison because the reported results strongly depend on PCM composition, operating conditions, geometry, climatic region, heat source intensity, and testing methodology. Therefore, rather than establishing universal quantitative rankings, this study proposes a cross-domain comparative framework based on thermal objectives, enhancement mechanisms, safety relevance, and implementation constraints. In addition, critical limitations associated with low thermal conductivity, leakage, long-term cycling degradation, supercooling, fire safety, and economic scalability are discussed comprehensively.Overall, the study demonstrates that PCM systems are evolving from conventional latent heat storage materials toward multifunctional thermal management platforms capable of simultaneously providing thermal buffering, flame retardancy, electrical insulation, structural stability, and intelligent adaptive thermal regulation. Future research should therefore focus on standardized testing methodologies, long-term aging behavior under realistic duty cycles, fire safety evaluation, scalable manufacturing strategies, and AI-assisted optimization of multifunctional PCM architectures.