Application of Ce–Eu/TiO2 phase change material as the wall material to improve the indoor environment

Abstract

Walls of buildings fitted with functional materials are beneficial for saving energy and increasing the comfort level. The Ce–Eu/TiO2 phase change material mixed with gypsum as wall plaster materials could purify indoor air, store heat energy, and also control air humidity. This paper studied the thermal-photocatalytic-humidity performance of gypsum based functional materials for residential walls and evaluated the effects of its application. The latent heat of gypsum based functional materials was 23.57 J/g, whereas the phase transition temperature of 16.81–24.97 °C, which was a comfortable temperature range for humans. After 11 h of testing the formaldehyde concentration decreased from 1.0 to 0.3144 mg m−3 and the degradation rate reached 68%. The maximum temperature difference between the experiment room and the contrast room could reach 3.9 °C. The relative humidity indoors of the experiment room was 38.40–62.30%, which was much more stable than that of the contrast room.