Progetti di ricerca

Quoting the European Commission's proposal for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (December 15, 2021): "Buildings are one of the largest sources of energy consumption in Europe. Boosting their energy efficiency would cut emissions, tackle energy poverty,… Leggi tutto reduce people's vulnerability to energy prices and support the economic recovery and job creation.” LDWINS aims to boost the buildings' energy efficiency by designing smart windows based on the novel semi-transparent-thermoelectric/photovoltaic (ST-TE/PV) hybrid system. LDWINS overturns the traditional PV/TE hybrid system architecture by placing the TE to protect the PV (not on the back to cool it). Using low-dimensional materials LDWINS also wants to break the wall of the TE performance limit, synthesize ST-TE materials, and use them to produce a TE device to be coupled to an ST-PV window. The ST-TE device filters and harvests the light portion that limits the efficiency of the ST-PV and produces energy from the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors. ST-PV will increase stability and efficiency if it can enjoy indoor thermal comfort. In addition to being designed to maximize ST-PV performance, the glazing is designed to have enough temperature difference across the ST-TE, so that buildings cooling and heating can self-feed. Thermal comfort in work and domestic environments has become a critical factor (to say the least), given the widespread changes in weather patterns and the gas price increase that we are all witnessing. The exploiting of nanostructured materials and compounds that self-assemble in low-dimensional systems will be the key factor in managing the light and heat flow in the crucial nodes of the ST-TE/PV hybrid system. LDWINS wants to inspire the new researchers’ generation, raise the general public awareness of the building’s energy consumption, and prove to decision-makers and the industry that high-level scientific research can solve the energy crisis.