Critical insights and recent updates on passive battery thermal management system integrated with nano-enhanced phase change materials

Abstract

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy sources has driven the need for highly efficient battery systems. The main problem related to batteries is their self-generated heat, which hampers their working performance. Besides, elevated operating temperatures can lead to a battery thermal runaway and performance degradation. Phase change materials (PCMs) are commonly employed in Battery thermal management system (BTMS) to resolve the issue of thermal runaway. However, PCM's effectiveness in BTMS is limited by its poor thermal conductivity. The incorporation of highly conductive nanoparticles can overcome the limitation of low thermal conductivity of PCM. The nano-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) are the current focus of research in BTMS, numerous review articles have been published in this area, primarily emphasizing the enhancement of thermal conductivity and its impact on battery thermal performance. However, this review article focused on passive battery thermal management technique by incorporating NePCM, which indicates the novelty of the article. The current article aims to provide a review of NePCM based passive BTMS including carbon, metal and hybrid nanoparticles without secondary assisted cooling system. The key areas; NePCM preparation, thermophysical changes in NePCM, battery pack design aspects, and thermal performance of battery are extensively covered. The review analyzed that melt-blending two-step method is mostly adopted in preparation of NePCM. The NePCMs used in BTMS with a thermal conductivity of 1–2 W/(m∗k) and latent heat between 80 and 120 J/g are preferred in literature. Furthermore, the majority of studies were successful in keeping the maximum battery surface temperature below 50 °C, and the maximum temperature difference ΔTmax below 5 °C. In order to facilitate the researchers, this article includes technical challenges and future recommendations for further research gaps in the topic.