A periodic total heat exchanger is a double flow circuit heat exchange device, which is improved by a membrane-based energy recovery ventilator with two additional fans to change the flow direction. Similar to membrane-based energy recovery ventilators, the deficiency of latent heat effectiveness poses a problem. Thus, this paper investigates the usage of energy-material in the periodic total heat exchanger to enhance the device performance. Three types of energy-storage materials, activated carbon, aluminum, and a mixture of activated carbon and aluminum are respectively installed and experimentally investigated. The results show that adding activated carbon to the device increases the latent heat effectiveness by 17.3%. Also, installing aluminum results in an increment of 15.1% on the sensible heat effectiveness. Finally, among the three types of energy-storage materials, the device with activated carbon has the best performance, with an increment of the total heat effectiveness of up to 11.7%. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.