14 Nov 2023, Yan’s research group from the Institute for Advanced Studies at Shenzhen University published their review paper entitled “Phase Change Materials Meet Microfluidic Encapsulation” in Advanced Science. Yanhong Guo, a joint PhD student at Shenzhen University and University of Nottingham is the first author, with Sheng Yan, Yong Ren, and Yuying Yan as the corresponding authors. The Institute for Advanced Study at Shenzhen University is the first affiliation. This achievement was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, the Guangdong Provincial Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund.

Improving the utilization of thermal energy is crucial in the world nowadays due to the high levels of energy consumption. One way to achieve this is to use phase change materials (PCMs) as thermal energy storage media, which can be used to regulate temperature or provide heating/cooling in various applications. However, PCMs have limitations like low thermal conductivity, leakage, and corrosion. To overcome these challenges, PCMs are encapsulated into microencapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs) capsules/fibers. This encapsulation prevents PCMs from leakage and corrosion issues, and the microcapsules/fibers act as conduits for heat transfer, enabling efficient exchange between the PCM and its surroundings. Microfluidics-based MEPCMs have attracted intensive attention over the past decade due to the exquisite control over flow conditions and size of microcapsules. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the state-of-art progress in microfluidics-based encapsulation of PCMs. The principle and method of preparing MEPCM capsules/fibers using microfluidic technology are elaborated, followed by the analysis of their thermal and microstructure characteristics. Meanwhile, the applications of MEPCM in the fields of building energy conservation, textiles, military aviation, solar energy utilization, and bioengineering are summarized. Finally, the perspectives on MEPCM capsules/fibers are discussed.

Link to the paper：https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202304580