Impact of phase change material-based heatsinks on lithium-ion battery thermal management: A comprehensive review

Since Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs) have been major power sources for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Energy Storage Devices (ESDs), Battery Thermal Management (BTM) has attracted the attention of numerous investigators. On the other hand, the application of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in heatsinks (HSs) is an effective technique that has been approved for the electronic device cooling in transient operation in which the PCM melts as it absorbs the heat generated. Loading PCM has two positive effects of stretching the transient operation time (OT) as well as overheating postponement. They spend more time reaching the steady operation and simultaneously their base temperature in the steady-state is less. To improve the PCM-HS effectiveness and consider the low thermal conductivity of PCMs, installing fins, adding low melting alloy, loading nanoparticles, and metal foam was proposed by various researchers. Moreover, it is affirmed that using microencapsulation instead of PCM enlarged the OT by 74.6%. This review describes PCM-based HSs and illustrates their role in battery thermal management systems (BTMS) under different circumstances. The recent progress in this field is summarized and the future expectations are introduced.