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Enhancing Concrete Sustainability: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Greener Concrete

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2025 | Viewed by 3

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete is the most widely used building material worldwide and it has become integral to modern life because it is generally a durable and cost-effective; however, a major challenge is that its production is linked to adverse environmental impacts, including the use of non-renewable natural materials, when it comes to Portland cement, the high CO2 emissions and energy usage of the cement production process.

As concrete demand is projected to increase, it is important to investigate ways of building with concrete more sustainably, including utilising innovative approaches and technology. In this context, intensive international research has focused on innovations that address the environmental impact and overall sustainability of concrete. Extensive studies have forcused on investigating opportunities and initiatives to reach carbon neutrality, to design innovative eco-friendly materials, to promote reuse and recycling, and to incorporate circular economy concepts, starting at the cement production plant and extending through the entire life cycle of the concrete structure.

This Special Issue invites papers focusing on such concrete innovations, towards improved sustainability and indicative themes include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Innovative cements for concrete production;
  • Self-healing concrete innovations;
  • Innovative supplementary cementitious materials;
  • Innovative additives/admixtures;
  • Innovative aggregates for concrete;
  • Innovative reinforcement materials;
  • The optimisation of materials and/or structures;
  • Recyclability and waste management;
  • Bio-based, renewable, and recyclable concrete constituents;
  • Waste carbon dioxide recycling;
  • CO2-cured and mixed concrete;
  • Waste materials and by-products in cement and concrete;
  • Innovative concrete repair/rehabilitation and strengthening materials and techniques;
  • Innovative surface protection methods and materials;
  • Mechanical behaviour and durability;
  • Sustainability assessment;
  • Material characterisation and modelling;
  • Thermodynamic analysis.

Prof. Dr. Maria Mavroulidou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • concrete
  • sustainability
  • innovative cements and supplementary cementitious materials for concrete
  • innovative concrete aggregates
  • self-healing concrete
  • circular economy
  • waste materials and by-products
  • sustainability assessment

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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