Development and applications of multifunctional microencapsulated PCMs: A comprehensive review

Microencapsulation of phase change materials (PCMs) can address issues such as leakage, corrosion, and volume changes. Based on microencapsulation technology, microencapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs) have high specific surface area, and PCMs as core materials achieve isolation from the surrounding environment with the help of shell materials. Further, MEPCMs can remain constant temperature or change very little during melting endothermic process and exhibit unique advantages in the field of thermal energy storage and temperature control. With the development of microencapsulation technology, in addition to those known functions mentioned above, MEPCMs can be achieved many functions by utilizing the properties of the shell material or modifying it or by doping the material in the core material. In this paper, firstly, we introduce the types, properties and development of MEPCMs. Then, various multifunctional MEPCMs are summarized and analyzed based on the basic function of thermal energy storage or temperature control, with a focus on their multifunctional principle and performance in areas such as supercapacitors, chemical catalysis, solar photocatalysis, biology, optics, and flame retardancy, etc. Finally, the existing problems, solutions, and future research directions are put forward.