Heat-regulating building material could save energy

Daily Mail : A research team at the University of Nottingham campus in Ningbo, China, has developed a material that, when applied to the walls of a room, allows them to absorb and store excess heat and release it later. Jo Darkwa and Oliver Su said the phase-change material, or PCM, will work as a spray, forming a microscopic film on surfaces. When the air in a PCM-treated room rises above a certain temperature, the particles in the spray absorb the excess heat and melt, but instead of dripping they are held in place by a special coating. When the room temperature decreases, the material becomes a solid, releasing the heat back into the room. Darkwa and Su believe the material could both save energy and reduce carbon emissions.