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New Thermal Insulation Materials in Green Buildings

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 1071

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Technology of Building Materials and Components, Brno University of Technology, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: environmentally friendly insulation materials; ecological buildings materials; green facades; thermal insulation plasters; vacuum insulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Institute of Technology of Building Materials and Components, Brno University of Technology, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: building physics; ecological buildings materials; environmentally friendly insulation materials; vacuum insulation; thermal insulation plasters
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thermal insulation materials play an important role in the construction industry in terms of reducing energy consumption in new and existing buildings, which is of key importance for environmental protection and sustainable development. Currently, the most commonly used insulation materials in Central Europe are expanded polystyrene, mineral wool and polyurethane materials. However, these materials significantly burden the environment both during the production of the material itself (in terms of primary energy content—PEI; CO2 emissions—GWP) and after its service life in the structure. It should be noted that some of the input raw materials used in the production of insulation are non-renewable, e.g., oil. A more environmentally friendly option is therefore insulation materials from easily renewable and recyclable raw material sources. Experts are striving to return to the original, easily renewable sources of raw materials or to use secondary industrial sources in the development of non-traditional but effective insulation materials.

A number of researchers are researching non-traditional insulation materials. The goal is to develop materials based on natural or waste fibers that would be a suitable ecological replacement for today's common insulation. The production of these materials should have lower energy consumption and no negative impact on the environment. The final products should have at least comparable properties to insulation materials commonly used in construction and should be affordable. However, due to the different nature of the matrix of these fibrous materials, it is necessary to investigate their hygrothermal behavior in order to correctly design the placement of the material in the structure and ensure its optimal function.

This Special Issue of Materials, “New Thermal Insulation Materials in Green Buildings”, will focus on the development, characterization, and application of innovative thermal insulation materials that will contribute to improving the energy efficiency of buildings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2. Papers are invited to address bio-based, recycled, nanostructured, or otherwise advanced insulation materials, their thermal performance, environmental impacts, and integration into green building design. Topics of interest include material science, thermal conductivity analysis, lifecycle assessment (LCA), hygrothermal behavior, regulatory frameworks, and the role of insulation in achieving long-term decarbonization goals in the construction sector. The aim of the journal is to present research that supports the transition to low-carbon, energy-efficient buildings through innovative insulation technologies and sustainable construction practices.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Buildings.

Dr. Jitka Peterková
Prof. Dr. Jiří Zach
Guest Editors

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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. Materials 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 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

  • insulation materials based on easy renewable resources
  • natural fibres
  • waste fibres
  • vacuum insulation materials
  • ecological materials
  • recycling
  • LCA
  • green buildings

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6889 KB  
Article
An Innovative Solution for Post-Consumer Footwear Waste: Nonwoven Fibrous Structures with Thermal and Acoustic Insulation Properties
by Diana I. Alves, Renato Guimarães, Sofia M. Costa, Nuno A. T. C. Fernandes, Óscar Carvalho, Raul Fangueiro and Diana P. Ferreira
Materials 2025, 18(20), 4765; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18204765 - 17 Oct 2025
Viewed by 292
Abstract
With 23.4 billion pairs made and 22 billion discarded in 2023, post-consumer footwear waste is a major environmental challenge, demanding a shift toward circular economy practices. In this work, post-consumer footwear waste is repurposed into thermal/acoustic insulation materials for building construction, producing four [...] Read more.
With 23.4 billion pairs made and 22 billion discarded in 2023, post-consumer footwear waste is a major environmental challenge, demanding a shift toward circular economy practices. In this work, post-consumer footwear waste is repurposed into thermal/acoustic insulation materials for building construction, producing four needle-punched nonwovens (two of them compressed) composed of a post-consumer leather (30%) and footwear waste mixture (40%) with recycled polyester fibers. Nonwovens exhibited higher strain values (95.9 and 77.1% for leather residue and footwear mixture residue, respectively) but lower tensile strength (1694 and 104.9 kPa) and Young’s modulus (1767.8 and 136.10 kPa). The compressed nonwovens demonstrated higher tensile strength (7360 and 3559 kPa) and Young’s modulus values (12992 and 4020.4 kPa) and reduced strain (56.6 and 96.9%). The thermal conductivity results revealed that the nonwovens exhibited lower values (0.040 and 0.046 W/(m·K)), indicating better insulation performance when compared with their compressed counterparts (0.060 and 0.058 W/(m·K)). The nonwovens demonstrated high sound absorption at higher frequencies, reaching peak absorption coefficients of 0.917 and 0.995, ideal for acoustic insulation. The compressed nonwovens exhibited improved absorption at lower and mid-frequencies, with maximum values of 0.510 and 0.519. Given the current lack of applications for recycled materials derived from post-consumer footwear, the findings offer a novel approach to address their recycling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Thermal Insulation Materials in Green Buildings)
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16 pages, 5986 KB  
Article
Development of Alternative Porous Magnesium Potassium Phosphate Cements as Thermal Insulating Materials
by Jessica Giro-Paloma, Jofre Mañosa, Alex Maldonado-Alameda, Anna Alfocea-Roig, Sergio Huete-Hernández, Josep Maria Chimenos and Joan Formosa
Materials 2025, 18(17), 3946; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18173946 - 22 Aug 2025
Viewed by 575
Abstract
Magnesium potassium phosphate cement (MKPC), a type of chemically bonded phosphate ceramic (CBPC), presents a promising alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). This study focuses on developing sustainable MKPC (sust-MKPC) as a thermally passive material for building applications. A low-grade magnesium oxide (LG-MgO) [...] Read more.
Magnesium potassium phosphate cement (MKPC), a type of chemically bonded phosphate ceramic (CBPC), presents a promising alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). This study focuses on developing sustainable MKPC (sust-MKPC) as a thermally passive material for building applications. A low-grade magnesium oxide (LG-MgO) industrial by-product was utilized to formulate sust-MKPC, with hydrogen peroxide employed as an air-entraining agent (AEA) to induce high porosity and enhance thermal insulation while supporting sustainability goals by reducing energy consumption in climate control systems. Seven formulations incorporating varying hydrogen peroxide contents (0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt.%) were prepared to evaluate the impact of AEA on the thermal and physicomechanical properties. Comprehensive characterization, including porosity and thermal conductivity measurements, revealed that increasing the AEA content significantly improved thermal inertia and lowered thermal conductivity due to porosity. However, this enhancement was accompanied by a marked reduction in mechanical strength and density, highlighting the trade-off between thermal performance and structural integrity in porous sust-MKPC formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Thermal Insulation Materials in Green Buildings)
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