Abstract Buildings contribute to 40% of total global energy consumption, which is responsible to 38% of greenhouse gas emissions. It is critical to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings to mitigate global warming. In the last decade, advances in thermal energy storage (TES) techniques using phase change material (PCM) have gained much attention among researchers, mainly to reduce energy consumption and to promote the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy. PCM technology is one of the most promising technologies available for the development of high performance and energy-efficient buildings and, therefore, considered as one of the most effective and on-going fields of research. The main limitation of PCM is its leakage problem which limits its potential use in building construction and other applications such as TES and textiles, which can be overcome by employing nano-/micro-encapsulation technologies. This paper comprehensively overviews the nano-/micro-encapsulation technologies, which are mainly classified into three categories including physical, physiochemical and chemical methods, and the properties of microcapsules prepared. Among all encapsulation technologies available, the chemical method is commonly used since it offers the best technological approach in terms of encapsulation efficiency and better structural integrity of core material. There is a need to develop a method for the synthesis of nano-encapsulated PCMs to achieve enhanced structural stability and better fracture resistance and, thus, longer service life. The accumulated database of properties/performance of PCMs and synthesised nano-/micro-capsules from various techniques presented in the paper should serve as the most useful information for the production of nano-/micro-capsules with desirable characteristics for building construction application and further innovation of PCM technology.

中文翻译：

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建筑用相变材料：纳米/微封装概述

摘要 建筑物占全球能源消耗总量的 40%，占温室气体排放量的 38%。提高建筑物的能源效率以缓解全球变暖至关重要。在过去十年中，使用相变材料 (PCM) 的热能储存 (TES) 技术的进步引起了研究人员的广泛关注，主要是为了降低能源消耗和促进太阳能等可再生能源的使用。PCM 技术是可用于开发高性能和节能建筑的最有前途的技术之一，因此被认为是最有效和持续进行的研究领域之一。PCM 的主要限制是它的泄漏问题，这限制了其在建筑施工和其他应用（如 TES 和纺织品）中的潜在用途，这可以通过采用纳米/微封装技术来克服。本文全面概述了纳米/微胶囊技术，主要分为物理、物理化学和化学方法三类，以及制备的微胶囊的性质。在所有可用的封装技术中，化学方法是常用的，因为它在封装效率和芯材更好的结构完整性方面提供了最好的技术方法。需要开发一种合成纳米封装 PCM 的方法，以实现增强的结构稳定性和更好的抗断裂性，因此，更长的使用寿命。论文中介绍的各种技术的 PCM 和合成纳米/微胶囊的性质/性能累积数据库应作为最有用的信息，可用于生产具有理想特性的纳米/微胶囊，用于建筑施工应用，并进一步PCM技术的创新。