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Topic · Mechanical Engineering

Phase Change Materials Research

Phase Change Materials Research is a research topic within Mechanical Engineering. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage, particularly in building applications. It covers a wide range of topics including heat transfer analysis, high temperature storage, solar energy applications, thermal conductivity enhancement, and microencapsulated PCMs. The research aims to improve energy efficiency and explore innovative ways to store and utilize thermal energy.

  • Thermal Energy Storage
  • Phase Change Materials
  • Heat Transfer
  • Building Applications
  • Latent Heat
  • High Temperature
  • Solar Energy
  • Thermal Conductivity Enhancement
  • Microencapsulated PCM
  • Energy Efficiency
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+54%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
54% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Phase Change Materials Research

Which countries lead Phase Change Materials Research research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (2.9k and 798 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.9k works
  2. 2 India 798 works
  3. 3 United States 363 works
  4. 4 Iran 226 works
  5. 5 Saudi Arabia 204 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 202 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 192 works
  8. 8 Italy 142 works
  9. 9 Iraq 138 works
  10. 10 South Korea 136 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 54.4%India: 15.2%United States: 6.9%Iran: 4.3%6 others listed: 19.3%54%largest
China2,861 · 54.4%India798 · 15.2%United States363 · 6.9%Iran226 · 4.3%6 others listed1,015 · 19.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Phase Change Materials Research research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Phase Change Materials Research research, followed by Xi'an Jiaotong University and North China Electric Power University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 116 works
  2. 2 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 109 works
  3. 3 North China Electric Power UniversityChina 59 works
  4. 4 Zhejiang UniversityChina 50 works
  5. 5 Guangdong University of TechnologyChina 49 works
  6. 6 University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 48 works
  7. 7 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 46 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 45 works
  9. 9 Southeast UniversityChina 45 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 45 works

Who are the leading researchers in Phase Change Materials Research?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Phase Change Materials Research include Zhong Lin Wang, Kai You Wang and Younan Xia.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Younan Xia United States 207k citations
  4. 4 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  5. 5 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  6. 6 Qiang Zhang China 184k citations
  7. 7 Han Zhang China 161k citations
  8. 8 Huan Liu Australia 148k citations
  9. 9 Zhanhu Guo United States 148k citations
  10. 10 Tasawar Hayat Pakistan 135k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Phase Change Materials Research?

The most cited paper in Phase Change Materials Research is "Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications" (Atul Sharma, V.V. Tyagi, C.R. Chen et al., 2008), with 5,917 citations. Next come "Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications" (4,741) and "A review on phase change energy storage: materials and applications" (3,095).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials and applications Atul Sharma, V.V. Tyagi, C.R. Chen et al. · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 11 Feb 2008 5,917
2 Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications Belén Zalba, José Ma Marı́n, Luisa F. Cabeza et al. · Applied Thermal Engineering 10 Dec 2002 4,741
3 A review on phase change energy storage: materials and applications Mohammed Mehdi Farid, Amar M. Khudhair, Siddique Ali K. Razack et al. · Energy Conversion and Management 22 Nov 2003 3,095
4 A fixed grid numerical modelling methodology for convection-diffusion mushy region phase-change problems Vaughan R. Voller, Chander Prakash · International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer Aug 1987 2,677
5 Revised equation and table for determining the freezing point depression of H2O-Nacl solutions Robert J. Bodnar · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Feb 1993 2,287
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Phase Change Materials Research research done?

The largest centres of Phase Change Materials Research research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Xi'an (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yangpu, Babol and Al Kharj.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 518 works
  2. 2 Xi'anChina 208 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 184 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 140 works
  5. 5 GuangzhouChina 130 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 130 works
  7. 7 TianjinChina 107 works
  8. 8 ChennaiIndia 94 works
  9. 9 ChengduChina 79 works
  10. 10 TehranIran 75 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YangpuCN · 26.8 works21×
  2. BabolIR · 20.2 works19×
  3. Al KharjSA · 26.8 works14×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Phase Change Materials Research than the world average.

See Phase Change Materials Research on the map

Where is the best place to study Phase Change Materials Research?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Xi'an Jiaotong University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 23.32%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Beijing University o…King Fahd University…Guangdong University…Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beijing University of Chemical TechnologyChina 72.035.0%8.2×22 +75.8%
2King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 68.123.1%14.0×30 +107.5%
3Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 67.414.2%10.0×109 +117.0%
4Guangdong University of TechnologyChina 64.722.0%14.3×49 +237.2%
5Sunway UniversityMalaysia 63.522.6%26.2×15 +144.3%
6University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 61.216.1%9.9×48 +107.2%
7Babol Noshirvani University of TechnologyIran 58.527.4%34.7×18 -1.2%
8Beijing Normal UniversityChina 56.133.2%1.7×8 +142.6%
9North China Electric Power UniversityChina 55.811.8%14.1×59 +138.1%
10Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan AbdullahMalaysia 55.027.8%8.4×11 +185.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Phase Change Materials Research, country by country

Is Phase Change Materials Research research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 54% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Phase Change Materials Research.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Phase Change Materials Research as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.029% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Phase Change Materials Research0.031% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Phase Change Materials Research over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Phase Change Materials Research9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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