A critical review on phase change materials (PCM) for sustainable and energy efficient building: Design, characteristic, performance and application

Building construction deserves many attentions due to its huge energy consumption, while Phase Change Materials (PCMs) provide positive solutions for improving energy efficiency and enhancing the thermal properties of construction materials. However, PCMs also present some negative impacts, such as weakening mechanical properties and increasing costs, chemical instability and so on. In this paper, the main characteristics of PCMs, design and incorporating methods, effects on energy consumption and construction reliability are comprehensively reviewed and discussed. Although many materials have the capacity of phase change, some organic PCMs are more suitable due to the higher latent heat and favourable phase change point in buildings, when eutectic PCMs present greater potential to become the optimal one but much effort is required for investigations. Current design methods and application in construction materials can meet the essential requirements, but the effectiveness is inadequate, including low efficiency of phase changing, leading to low energy storage. Subsequently, some promising research direction and critical areas for optimization are also proposed accordingly in this paper. Future development of PCMs, including novel PCM and efficient incorporation, real applications and functions in buildings are proposed. Additionally, multifunctional construction materials combining PCM deserve much attention and possess promising prospect for energy saving in sustainable and energy efficient building construction.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This paper comprehensively reviews and discusses the characteristics, design and application methods of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in building construction, as well as their effects on energy consumption and construction reliability. Promising research directions and areas for optimization are proposed, along with the future development and potential applications of PCMs in buildings.