Julian Wang Donglu Shi Yehao Song   Editors Advanced Materials in Smart Building Skins for Sustainability From Nano to Macroscale Advanced Materials in Smart Building Skins for Sustainability · · Julian Wang Donglu Shi Yehao Song Editors Advanced Materials in Smart Building Skins for Sustainability From Nano to Macroscale Editors Julian Wang Donglu Shi Department of Architectural Engineering Department of Mechanical and Materials and Department of Architecture Engineering Pennsylvania State University University of Cincinnati University Park, PA, USA Cincinnati, OH, USA Yehao Song School of Architecture Tsinghua University Beijing, China ISBN 978-3-031-09694-5 ISBN 978-3-031-09695-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09695-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Today’s nanotechnologies and advanced materials have rapidly advanced into many areas, particularly in civil engineering and architectural design for the development of responsive and adaptive structures which are not only for providing occupant comfort but also for achieving building energy efficiency and sustainable environ- mental performance. The concept of “smart” building skins has emerged that can respond to any environmental changes, especially involving energy sources and health factors. These environmental changes can trigger a “response” manifested by a material property that can be readily measured and translated to other variables for required functionalities and applications. In this fashion, a building skin is no longer a passive physical barrier but structurally transformed into an active device system capable of multifunctional energy and environmental performances such as energy harvest and CO reduction. For instance, the smart building skin can now be engi- 2 neered for solar harvesting, conversion, and utilization as in the so-called Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV). In BIPV, the high-rise building skins provide ideal transparent substrates for energy device architecture based on nanoscale thin films. The smart building concept has paved a new path to energy-neutral civic infras- tructures that will have high societal impacts on energy conservation, public health, prosperity, and welfare. This book is a collection of chapters that focus on key areas of smart building skins embodied in the novel advanced materials with unique structures and properties that enable multiple functions in energy efficiency, solar harvesting, and environmental greenness. These chapters provide the most up-to-date research outcomes on novel materials synthesis, structure characterization, device architecture, and their novel applications in smart building skins. The topics of these chapters cover broad interdis- ciplinary areas including nanotechnology, materials science, energy devices, archi- tecture, urban planning, and civil engineering. In particular, new trends in modern architectural design are introduced with consideration of energy conservation, envi- ronmental greenness, and net-zero. All chapters are developed by experts in different fields who have been collaboratively conducting research about energy-efficient building skins. v vi Preface Chapters 1–5 concentrate on the design, characteristics, development, fabrica- tion, and performance analysis of advanced materials, taking the consideration of building-integrated application paradigms. The introduced materials range from nanoscale spectral selective materials to molecular scale programmable biological materials, and architectural scale wooden materials/structures. Spurred by the intro- duction of various new materials, Chapters 6–9 deal with engineering solutions and technologies to incorporate advanced materials and investigate their impacts, such as the envelope thermal engineering with smart materials, building-integrated photovoltaic technologies and their influences on microclimates, and computational technologies for energy analysis of dynamic building skins. Chapters 10–13 take the perspective of architectural design, illustrating and demonstrating new methodolo- gies, processes, models, and practical principles for integrating dynamic envelopes consisting of advanced materials into the architectural scale, with considerations of material design knowledge transfer, environmental interactions, esthetics, and user testing. We have organized this book to provide overviews of key issues on the novel applications of advanced materials in architecture that are tailored to multifunctional, energy-efficient, environmentally green building skins. All chapters are developed in a tutorial fashion for technical specialists in a variety of fields such as materials science, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and architectural design. This book is expected to have a large readership suitable for both academic and industrial researchers, including graduate and undergraduate students, scholars, engineers, and practitioners in sustainable design and building façade engineering. We are most grateful to all authors for contributing their most valuable works to this book. The assistance of editor Madanagopal Deenadayalan from Springer for formatting this book is very much appreciated. University Park, USA Julian Wang Cincinnati, USA Donglu Shi Beijing, China Yehao Song Contents 1 Spectral Selective Solar Harvesting and Energy Generation via Transparent Building Skin .................................. 1 Jou Lin, Mengyao Lyu, Yuxin Wang, Brent Webster, and Donglu Shi 2 Low Energy Adaptive Biological Material Skins from Nature to Buildings ................................................... 59 Laia Mogas-Soldevila 3 Dynamic Electro-, Mechanochromic Materials and Structures for Multifunctional Smart Windows ............................ 73 Yao Zhao, Yanbin Li, and Jie Yin 4 Material Programming for Bio-inspired and Bio-based Hygromorphic Building Envelopes .............................. 99 Dylan Wood, Tiffany Cheng, Yasaman Tahouni, and Achim Menges 5 Solar-Thermal Conversion in Envelope Materials for Energy Savings ....................................................... 113 Mohammad Elmi and Julian Wang 6 Thermally Responsive Building Envelopes from Materials to Engineering ................................................ 129 Hongyu Zhou and Yawen He 7 Energy Performance Analysis of Kinetic Façades by Climate Zones ........................................................ 149 Chengde Wu 8 Integration of Solar Technologies in Facades: Performances and Applications for Curtain Walling ........................... 167 Paolo Rigone and Paolo Giussani 9 Interdependencies Between Photovoltaics and Thermal Microclimate ................................................. 189 Elisabeth Fassbender and Claudia Hemmerle vii viii Contents 10 Material Driven Adaptive Design Model for Environmentally-Responsive Envelopes ...................... 207 Maryam Mansoori, Zofia Rybkowski, and Negar Kalantar 11 Design Principles, Strategies, and Environmental Interaction of Dynamic Envelopes ......................................... 221 Pengfei Wang, Junjie Li, and Zehui Peng 12 Aesthetics and Perception: Dynamic Facade Design with Programmable Materials .................................. 243 Dale Clifford 13 Design Research on Climate-Responsive Building Skins from Prototype and Case Study Perspectives ..................... 257 Zhenghao Lin and Yehao Song Index ............................................................. 277 Chapter 1 Spectral Selective Solar Harvesting and Energy Generation via Transparent Building Skin Jou Lin, Mengyao Lyu, Yuxin Wang, Brent Webster, and Donglu Shi Abstract Today’s nanoscience has rapidly advanced into many areas of engineering, particularly in architectural design of building skins for the development of envi- ronmentally responsive structures. Not only does this improve occupant comfort, but also increases energy sustainability. Recently, advanced materials have been utilized for developing large-scale building skins with intelligent functionalities. Many current challenges focus on improving environmental safety, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing our carbon footprint. Advanced materials have played key roles in addressing these critical issues through fascinating properties that are ideal for building skin engineering. In this chapter, a series of bio-inspired green nano hybrids are introduced for solar harvesting, energy generation, and photothermally- activated building heating. These nano biohybrids can be physically retrofitted into existing residential buildings and structures, independently providing self- sustainable green energy. This chapter explores the most recent developments of nanostructure-based building skins that are smart, intelligent, adaptive, responsive and biologically inspired for energy and environmental sustainability. More specif- ically, we have developed smart building façades utilizing nanomaterial assemblies that have the ability to regulate and control energy consumption and generation, leading to energy neutral civic infrastructure. Novel nanostructures are designed, synthesized, and developed capable of the most efficient solar harvesting and energy generation. Fundamental studies have been carried out to identify operating mech- anisms dictating the optical, thermal, and electrical properties of the thin films on building skins for required functions. Lab-scale modules can be designed to test the performance of multifunctional thin films in terms of solar harvesting, visible trans- mittance, photovoltaic (PV) and photothermal (PT) efficiencies. The novel concepts include Optical Thermal Insulation (OTI) without any intervention medium typi- cally used in glazing technologies, and building skins with PV-PT dual modalities that can be seasonably altered for energy efficiency and generating solar-mediated thermal energy for building heating utilities. OTI is established by solar heating of a B J. Lin · M. Lyu · Y. Wang · B. Webster · D. Shi ( ) The Materials Science and Engineering Program, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1 J. Wang et al. (eds.), Advanced Materials in Smart Building Skins for Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09695-2_1 2 J.Linetal. photothermal coating on a window surface. by reducing the temperature difference between the window surface and room interior, the heat loss through a single pane is lowered without the air gap of the double pane. A transparent building skin can be engineered as a PV and PT device in the same surface coating with a dual modality. While the solar energy harvested can be converted to electricity via PV in the summer, the same film is photonically-activated to generate heat in the winter for reduced heat loss. The PV-PT dual-modality device can be applied as a smart building skin upon a large surface area for enhanced solar harvesting and alternative energy generation such as electrical and thermal energy. The solar light can also be wave-guided through transparent photo-thermal panels for generating high heat for building utilities. This chapter will devote much of its portions to describing the fundamental mechanisms of these new concepts as well as the engineering implementations in building skin architecture. · · · Keywords Advanced materials Nano technology Smart building skin · · · · Nanobiohybrids Spectral selective Photothermal Photovoltaic Energy sustainability 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 Optical Thermal Insulation via Photothermal Window Coatings The residential and commercial building sectors accounted for about 40% (or about 40 quadrillion British thermal units) of the total U.S. energy consumption in 2018 (Arasteh et al., 2006). Therefore, there is an increasing need to develop lighter mate- rial structures (such as single pane) and energy efficient building skins. One of the key issues deals with overall building energy and material consumption including electricity, heating and cooling, and materials production due to large building sizes. Recent advancements in technology have enabled glass to be integral of both the interior and exterior architecture making it a major component of building façades (Fig. 1.1). However, great challenges remain in terms of thermal transfer, energy efficiency and lighting requirements, especially heat loss in cold climate. Although various glazing technologies have been developed including low emissivity coatings and double/triple panes, a huge consumption of energy will not be resolved until fundamentally different concepts and engineering innovations are developed. For instance, the current technology for efficient windows relies upon the double- pane insulated glass unit (IGU) with a low-emissivity (low-e) coating. Although the double-pane IGU may meet some of the requirements in energy consumption, the single-pane windows will be highly desirable for obvious reasons including lighter weight, straightforward manufacturing, and less materials needed. The advanced single pane IGUs may ultimately replace double panes with similar performance characteristics. However, a key challenge in developing the single-pane IGUs is the