Energy Storage Science and Technology ›› 2022, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (6): 1968-1979.doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2021.0697

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Research progress on phase-change emulsions

FENG Jinxin1(), LING Ziye1,2, FANG Xiaoming1,2, ZHANG Zhengguo1,2()   

  1. 1.Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology
    2.Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Efficient Heat Storage and Application, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, China
  • Received:2021-12-22 Revised:2022-02-02 Online:2022-06-05 Published:2022-06-13
  • Contact: ZHANG Zhengguo E-mail:cejinxin@mail.scut.edu.cn;cezhang@scut.edu.cn

Abstract:

Phase-change emulsion is a type of latent functional thermal fluid with high energy-storage density, good fluidity, and excellent convective heat-transfer performance, which has been widely applied in the field of heat storage and thermal management. In this study, the types and preparation methods for phase-change emulsion are systematically introduced. The bottleneck problems of high undercooling and poor stability of phase-change emulsions and their solutions were analyzed, and the existing application research was summarized. Selection of special long-chain emulsifiers was pointed out to be the preferred method for reducing the supercooling degree of the emulsion. To improve emulsion stability, the mutual influence of various factors must be considered. In the practical application, the phase-change emulsion demonstrated a higher thermal-energy-storage capacity and better cooling performance than water. Subsequent development of functionalized new phase-change emulsions and expansion of new application areas are predicted to possibly become a future development trend.

Key words: phase-change emulsion, stability, supercooling, thermal-energy storage, thermal management

CLC Number: