Advanced Functional Cement-Based Materials for Smart Applications

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 745

Special Issue Editors

School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: controllable synthesis and characterization of phase-change materials; winter concrete construction; multifunctional and intelligence concrete; multidimensional design; thermal energy storage cement-based materials
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Guest Editor
School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: phase-change materials for thermal energy storage; microencapsulation of phase-change materials; heat-stored concrete; high-value utilization of waste in concrete construction; temperature control of concrete
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: concrete durability; quality control of large-volume concrete; high-performance hydraulic structures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cement-based materials are the most used construction materials in the world, ubiquitous in various engineering constructions such as civil engineering, transportation, water conservancy, etc. Modern cement-based materials have made significant progress in terms of scientific research, technological innovation, and construction techniques, owing to developments in nanotechnology and intelligent and multifunctional designs, rendering them smarter for various applications.

In recent years, diverse advanced functional cement-based materials have been designed and proposed for benefiting infrastructure engineering. However, there are still many challenges and research gaps that urgently need to be addressed. The strength and durability of cementitious composites are largely influenced by factors such as the geometry, size, and shape of the surface pores, as well as capillary action and the exposure environment. Functional coatings and surface treatments greatly enhance the properties of these composites, such as fire resistance, improved durability, high mechanical strength, weather resistance, water resistance, and light reflectivity.

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in terms of material designs, concepts, mechanisms, and practices related to advanced functional cement-based materials, solving challenges in scientific innovation and applications. Original research and reviews are welcome on, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • Intelligent design and advanced manufacturing techniques;
  • Conductive cement-based materials for multifunctional applications;
  • Microencapsulation of phase-change materials and applications in heat-stored cement-based materials;
  • Fiber coating technology in cement-based materials;
  • Nano-modified cement-based materials;
  • Numerical simulation and model optimization;
  • Surface treatment of cementitious composites;
  • Functional coatings in cement-based composites.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yushi Liu
Dr. Kunyang Yu
Dr. Zilong Wang
Guest Editors

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. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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

  • advanced functional cement-based materials
  • phase-change material
  • fiber coating
  • infrastructure construction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 6165 KiB  
Article
Heat-Stored Engineered Cementitious Composite Containing Microencapsulated n-Octadecane with Cenosphere Shell
by Huayang Sun, Kunyang Yu, Minjie Jia, Zilong Wang, Yingzi Yang and Yushi Liu
Coatings 2025, 15(2), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15020135 - 24 Jan 2025
Viewed by 531
Abstract
In this study, a microencapsulated phase-change material (PCM) with an n-octadecane core and a fly ash cenosphere shell (ODE/FAC) was prepared and it was used to replace micro silica sand forming a novel kind of heat-stored engineered cementitious composite (HS-ECC). The influence of [...] Read more.
In this study, a microencapsulated phase-change material (PCM) with an n-octadecane core and a fly ash cenosphere shell (ODE/FAC) was prepared and it was used to replace micro silica sand forming a novel kind of heat-stored engineered cementitious composite (HS-ECC). The influence of ODE/FAC content on the mechanical and thermal properties of the resulting HS-ECC was investigated. It turned out that the compressive strength, flexural strength, and tensile cracking strength of HS-ECC gradually decreased as the incorporation content of ODE/FAC increased, while the tensile strength and tensile strain capacity were enhanced. Moreover, the inclusion of ODE/FAC can obviously decrease the thermal conductivity of ECC, which indicates the elevated heat storage capacity. This work is significant because it provided new insights into the design of heat-stored ECC for synergistically improving the tensile properties and thermal energy storage performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Functional Cement-Based Materials for Smart Applications)
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