Recent Advances in Phase Change Material-Assisted Photovoltaic Systems: A Review of Thermal Management and Energy Performance

Photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems are increasingly employed for sustainable energy conversion; however, elevated operating temperatures remain a major limitation because they decrease electrical efficiency, accelerate material degradation, and restrict long-term system performance. Phase change materials (PCMs) have attracted substantial attention as a passive solution for thermal regulation. The paper discusses the current advances in PCM-integrated PV and PVT technologies with a focus on material selection, system configuration, heat-transfer enhancement approaches, environmental effects and sophisticated hybrid thermal management systems. Literature findings reveal that PCM-based thermal regulation can decrease PV module temperatures by around 5–25°C across different operating scenarios. Moreover, reported studies have achieved electrical-efficiency improvements of as high as 15% and annual energy-generation increases above 5% in suitable climatic environments. In PCM-assisted PVT systems, experimental investigations have demonstrated back-surface temperature reductions of up to 15.8°C and improvements in total solar-energy conversion efficiency of approximately 12.94% compared with conventional PVT configurations. The reviewed evidence further shows that system performance depends not only on the PCM temperature and latent heat of the PCM but also strongly on thermal conductivity, PCM thickness, module geometry, environmental conditions, and heat-transfer enhancement methods such as fins, conductive additives, nanoparticles, and hybrid heat-exchanger structures. Overall, PCM-assisted PV/PVT technologies provide an effective route for simultaneously mitigating thermal losses, improving electrical output, recovering useful thermal energy, and enhancing overall solar-energy utilization. Nevertheless, their broader implementation is still constrained by low PCM thermal conductivity, leakage and phase-segregation issues, long-term stability, limited outdoor validation, and uncertain techno-economic viability.