*A Review on Phase Change Materials for Sustainability Applications by Leveraging Machine… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114380*

desired properties. For example, a study found that adding 20% by mass of NaCl to n-octadecane-based PCMs reduced supercooling by 6°C, demonstrating the impact of nucleators in enhancing PCM performance [76], provided in **Table 1**.

## *3.2.1 Mechanisms and benefits of nucleator*

Nucleators are essential in phase change materials (PCMs) for providing sites where PCM molecules can organize and solidify. Without them, PCMs may not transition to a solid state efficiently, remaining disordered and liquid below the intended phase change temperature. By reducing the energy barrier, nucleators facilitate an organized crystalline formation, enabling a more immediate phase change near the desired temperature. This significantly enhances thermal energy storage efficiency by mitigating supercooling and ensuring predictable, consistent phase change behavior, crucial for reliable thermal energy storage applications [77].
