description
- The GRINDOOR project aims at developing and implementing new materials that enable huge energy savings in buildings and improve the quality of the indoor environment. About 40% of the primary energy, and 70% of the electricity, is used in buildings, and therefore the outcome of this project can have an impact on the long-term energy demand in the EU and the World. It is a highly focused study on new nanomaterials based on some transition metal oxides, which are used for four interrelated applications related to indoor lighting and indoor air: (i) electrochromic coatings are integrated in devices and used in “smart windows” to regulate the inflow of visible light and solar energy in order to minimize air condition and create indoor comfort, (ii) thermochromic nanoparticulate coatings are used on windows to provide large temperature-dependent control of the inflow of infrared solar radiation (in stand-alone cases as well as in conjunction with electrochromics), (iii) oxide-based gas sensors are used to measure indoor air quality especially with regard to formaldehyde, and (iv) photocatalytic coatings are used for indoor air cleaning. The investigated materials have many things in common and a joint and focused study, such as the one proposed here, will generate important new knowledge that can be transferred between the various sub-projects. The new oxide materials are prepared by advanced reactive gas deposition—using unique equipment—and high-pressure reactive dc magnetron sputtering. The materials are characterized and investigated by a wide range of state-of-the-art techniques.