Recent progress in photovoltaic thermal phase change material technology: A review

Photovoltaic, as an emerging technology, has become an alternative to traditional fossil energy to provide energy. At present, the electrical efficiency of photovoltaic modules can only reach about 30 %. Most of the solar radiation is converted into thermal energy and remains on photovoltaic modules, resulting in high temperature during the operation of photovoltaic modules. When the photovoltaic panel is in the case of continuous high temperature, the photoelectric conversion efficiency will continue to decline. At present, photovoltaic thermal management technology can effectively solve such problems. Photovoltaic thermal management technology based on phase change materials (PCM) has also been studied by many experts. This paper first introduces how PCM reduces the operating temperature and working principle of photovoltaic panels, and summarizes PCMs for various applications and photovoltaic systems. In fact, the research progress of PCM-based photovoltaic thermal management system in recent years is summarized in detail, including non-concentrating photovoltaic thermal management system, concentrating photovoltaic thermal management system, photovoltaic thermal (PV-T) thermal management system, photovoltaic-microencapsulated phase change material and phase change material-nanofluid. I hope this paper can provide better ideas and methods for the research of PV thermal management technology based on PCM. Finally, the future research priorities and prospects based on PCM photovoltaic thermal management technology are proposed. It is not yet in the mature stage of development, and the follow-up specific research is still challenging.