ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to report the studies that have been carried out by many researchers on cement-based composites with phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES) and the use of nanoinclusions. The increase in the global energy demand is an important issue, with the consequent increase of greenhouse gas emissions. Cement-based materials are greatly involved in this issue since the construction field represents one of the main contributors to energy consumption. After a brief introduction on the types of TES, this chapter focuses on the experimental characterization of different PCMs and the mechanisms to realize cement-based composites with PCMs to be used as thermal storage media. The thermal energy stored as sensible heat is due only to temperature change of a material without phase transformation. In latent heat thermal energy storage the heat is absorbed or released during a phase change of a storage medium at constant temperature.
