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Pulse heating and slip enhance charging of phase-change thermal batteries

Nature volume 649, pages 360–365 (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Phase-change thermal batteries for renewable energy storage and waste heat recovery demand high energy density and fast charging1,2,3,4,5, which are mutually exclusive because phase-change materials (PCMs) with high melting enthalpy are usually poor heat conductors6,7,8. The charging rate can be improved by making composite phase-change materials (CPCMs) with increased thermal conductivity9 and/or by exerting an external force to realize close-contact melting (CCM)10,11,12. However, these methods inevitably result in energy density losses and/or extra energy consumption. Here we report a strategy to boost the charging rates without sacrificing energy density, based on a rational design of a composite coating that enables slip-enhanced close-contact melting (sCCM) inside sealed thermal batteries. Using organic PCMs, we demonstrate a record-high power density of 1,100 ± 2% kW m−3 in a prototype. Our coating design integrates a pulse-heated (PH) layer that premelts the PCM to initiate CCM, together with a liquid-like slip surface that ensures unimpeded sinking of the remaining solid and sustains the sCCM mode throughout charging. We develop a model to explain how the slip surface enhances the charging rate. With high cycling life, adaptability and scalability, this strategy is generalizable to diverse PCMs, enabling high-performance thermal energy storage over a wide range of temperatures.

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Fig. 1: Fast charging of phase-change thermal batteries.
Fig. 2: sCCM-enabled fast-charging process.
Fig. 3: Flow and thermal analysis for sCCM.
Fig. 4: Performances of a sCCM-enabled thermal battery.

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All data are included in the paper, the Extended Data and the Supplementary Information file. Source data that support the findings of this study are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based on work supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 52276088, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province through grant nos. LZ22E060004 and LBMHZ24E030002, National Key R&D Program of China under grant nos. 2024YFC3712100 and 2024YFC3712103 and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (226-2024-00138). L.-W.F. would like to thank the financial support by the National Youth Talents Support Program. N.H. would like to thank a Postdoc Fellowship granted by Zhejiang University. Z.-R.L. would like to thank a fund granted by Strive for Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of Zhejiang University. X.-R.W. would like to thank the support by QiZhen Learning Platform for undergraduate students of Zhejiang University. N.H. thanks J. Hwang for helpful discussions on rheometer measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Zi-Rui Li  (李梓瑞), Guo-Tao Fu  (傅国涛), Yang-Yan Lai  (赖洋琰), Yue-Fei Wu  (武岳飞), Jia-Jie Jiang  (蒋佳杰), Zi-Tao Yu  (俞自涛), Xiang Gao  (高翔) & Li-Wu Fan  (范利武)

  2. Institute of Thermal Science and Power Systems, School of Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Zi-Rui Li  (李梓瑞), Guo-Tao Fu  (傅国涛), Yang-Yan Lai  (赖洋琰), Yue-Fei Wu  (武岳飞), Jia-Jie Jiang  (蒋佳杰), Xiao-Rong Wang  (王晓容), Shuang-Shuang Ni  (倪爽爽), Zi-Tao Yu  (俞自涛) & Li-Wu Fan  (范利武)

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Nan Hu  (胡楠) & Howard A. Stone

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo, People’s Republic of China

    Zhen-Bo Wang  (汪振波) & Yu-Min Ye  (叶羽敏)

  5. Zhejiang Baima Lake Laboratory Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang Gao  (高翔)

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  1. Zi-Rui Li  (李梓瑞)
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Contributions

L.-W.F., N.H. and Z.-R.L. conceived the idea and guided the project for this work. Z.-R.L., Y.-F.W. and J.-J.J. fabricated all PCM samples. Z.-R.L. and Y.-Y.L. conducted the tests of thermophysical properties. Z.-B.W., Z.-R.L. and Y.-M.Y. synthesized LLS layers. Z.-R.L. developed all experimental test set-ups. Z.-R.L., G.-T.F., X.-R.W. and S.-S.N. performed the experiments. N.H. and Z.-R.L. measured and analysed the slip properties of surfaces. N.H. and H.A.S. proposed the theoretical model, evaluation metrics and carried out the analysis. Z.-R.L. organized the overall experimental data. Z.-R.L., N.H. and L.-W.F. co-wrote the paper. L.-W.F., H.A.S., Z.-T.Y. and X.G. supervised the project. All of the authors analysed the data, commented on the paper and agreed on the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nan Hu  (胡楠), Yu-Min Ye  (叶羽敏) or Li-Wu Fan  (范利武).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Fig. 1 Contact angle measurement of organic PCM on different test surfaces.

a, Photograph of the measurement set-up. b, Schematic diagram of the thermal insulation cavity, which is used to maintain a high-temperature environment during the contact angle measurement of organic PCM with melting points above room temperature. c, Contact angles (s.d. n = 3) of tetradecanol and eicosane on the LLS and unmodified surface.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Sliding performance measurement of organic PCM on different test surfaces.

a, Side view of the concept of a low-surface-tension droplet motion on the LLS. b, Sliding angles (s.d. n = 3) of tetradecanol and eicosane on the LLS and unmodified surface. c, Time-sequence images on the sliding process of tetradecanol (γ = 22.3 mN m−1) on the LLS and unmodified surface at a tilted angle of 25°.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Drag behaviour test of solid and liquid PCM on the LLS and unmodified surface.

a, Schematic diagram of the solid–solid sliding performance test device. The specific measurement procedures and sample details are described in Methods. b, Friction coefficient variations of solid PCM (tetradecanol as the sample) on the LLS and unmodified surface. The applied load is 10 N and the cyclic motion length is 50 mm. c, Front-view photograph of the rheometer (Anton Paar MCR 103) used to test the torque of liquid PCM (tetradecanol as the sample) on the LLS and unmodified surface. d, Schematic diagram of the test platform including CP50 cone plate and surfaces to be tested. e, Torque (s.d. n = 3) variations of liquid PCM (tetradecanol as the sample) on the LLS and unmodified surface with different shear rates, under a testing temperature of 47 °C.

Source Data

Extended Data Fig. 4 Measured results of torque ratio under various combinations of shear rate.

The variations in torque ratio under different temperatures and shear rates are shown, in which the solid scatters were tested at ZJU and the hollow scatters were tested at PU (s.d. n = 3).

Source Data

Extended Data Fig. 5 Applicability of sCCM under high-temperature heating boundaries (above 100 °C), using erythritol as the testing PCM.

a, Sliding angles (s.d. n = 3) of erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface. b, Time-sequence images on the sliding process of erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface at a tilted angle of 30°. c, Contact angles (s.d. n = 3) of erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface. d, Torque (s.d. n = 3) variations of liquid erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface with different shear rates, under a testing temperature of 132 °C. e, Measured results of torque ratio Γlls/Γo under various combinations of shear rate (s.d. n = 3). f, Front-view photograph of the single-layer thermal battery under high-temperature working condition. g, Photographs of the visualization test process of sCCM in the single-layer thermal battery unit. h, Front-view photograph of the single-layer thermal battery with a sealed bottom under high-temperature working condition. i, Photographs of the visualization test process of sCCM in the single-layer thermal battery unit with a sealed bottom. j, Front-view photograph of the high-temperature testing system for the charging performance of the thermal battery. k, Comparison of the SOC variation (s.d. n = 3) of the thermal battery between the cases of sCCM and spontaneous CCM.

Source Data

Extended Data Table 1 Volumetric power density Pv as a function of effective energy density Ev of different enhanced heat-transfer methods (only for organic PCMs)
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Latent heat of fusion L as a function of thermal conductivity k, comparing sCCM (equivalent thermal conductivity kequiv) with CPCM (measured data)
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

This file contains Supplementary Notes 1–13, Supplementary Figs. 1–21, Supplementary Tables 1–3 and Supplementary References.

Peer Review File (download PDF )

Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )

Sliding performance test of liquid tetradecanol on the platform equipped with the LLS and unmodified surface at a set angle of 25°.

Supplementary Video 2 (download MP4 )

Real-time heat charging process of tetradecanol in the single-layer thermal battery unit with lateral wall based on only LLS layer without PH layer, and unmodified wall, under the superheat of 30 °C.

Supplementary Video 3 (download MP4 )

Real-time heat charging process of tetradecanol in the single-layer thermal battery unit with lateral wall based on LLS + PH layers, and only PH layer, under the superheat of 30 °C.

Supplementary Video 4 (download MP4 )

Real-time heat charging process of tetradecanol in the single-layer thermal battery unit (bottom sealed) with lateral wall based on LLS + PH layers, only PH layer, and unmodified wall, under the superheat of 30 °C.

Supplementary Video 5 (download MP4 )

Crystallization process of tetradecanol on the LLS and unmodified surface at the subcooling of 4 °C.

Supplementary Video 6 (download MP4 )

Crystallization process of erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface at the subcooling of 88 °C.

Supplementary Video 7 (download MP4 )

Crystallization process of erythritol on the LLS and unmodified surface at the subcooling of 73 °C.

Supplementary Video 8 (download MP4 )

Sliding performance test of liquid erythritol on the platform equipped with the LLS and unmodified surface at a set angle of 30°.

Supplementary Video 9 (download MP4 )

Real-time heat charging process of erythritol in the single-layer thermal battery unit with lateral wall based on LLS + PH layers, and unmodified wall, under the superheat of 30 °C.

Source data

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Li, ZR., Hu, N., Wang, ZB. et al. Pulse heating and slip enhance charging of phase-change thermal batteries. Nature 649, 360–365 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09877-0

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