A REVIEW ON ENHANCING THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS FOR THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

The aim of this paper is to review the various methods which has been adopted to the enhance the thermal conductivity of the phase change materials. Thermal conductivity can be increased by adding additives of high thermal conductivity such as nano particles, carbon-based materials. Carbon based materials such as Carbon nano tubes (CNTs), carbon nano fibre (CNF) graphene and expanded graphite has increased the thermal conductivity of the PCMs to a very large extent. Besides summarizing the paper, application of PCMs in various engineering fields are also analysed.