A state-of-the-art review on advancements in phase change material encapsulation techniques for electronics cooling

The continuous rise and reduction in heat flow of electronic devices constitute significant challenges for cooling management. The shell materials thermal conductivity affects both heat transfer and PCM - heat transfer fluid interaction (HTF). As a result, the traditional techniques of cooling systems are insufficient to provide the necessary cooling for such heat-generating electronic gadgets. In this view, there has been a considerable amount of effort applied into the development of high-efficiency cooling for electronics cooling applications. Today, many scientific studies are focusing on the usage of phase change materials (PCM) in high-energy storage systems due to their excellent thermal storage properties. Since the PCM and its volume of energy storage decrease from core to the coating, the higher encapsulation thickness provides minimum quality when compared to the lower thickness of encapsulation This review highlights the importance of size, thickness, and core-to-coating ratios while offering a thorough overview of PCM encapsulation methods for electronics cooling. It presents the novel idea of carbon nanotube-enhanced PCMs, emphasizes the need of choosing the right shell material, and investigates the effects of encapsulation shape. The key characteristics of encapsulation, such as influence of shell material, encapsulation shape, melting and solidification are reviewed.