Advances in Alkali-Activated Materials (AAMs) and Their Applications
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2026
Special Issue Editor
Interests: alkali-activated materials; geopolymers; building materials; valorization of industrial wastes and construction and demolition wastes; corrosion, durability and sustainability of cementitious materials; eco-friendly construction materials; 3D printing
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) represent a line of research that has attracted global interest in terms of providing a real alternative to replace Portland cement (OPC). However, despite this, it is believed that current and future research should focus on overcoming the challenges technology faces regarding its application at an industrial level. One of the main barriers to scaling at an industrial level is the scarcity of studies on truly available and sustainable raw materials (precursors and activators). In general, AAMs have a global warming potential (GWP) lower than that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC)—that is to say, the manufacturing processes can be less energy intensive according to the precursor and activator used. It is noted that “alkali-activated cements and concretes” (AACs), including so-called "geopolymers" (GPs), allow for the use of supplementary cementitious materials (wastes and industrial by-products) (SCMs) (100%) as the base material, giving rise to OPC-free cements, and other groups known as “hybrid cements” (HYCs) or “alkali-activated Portland blended cement”, which combine two technologies, i.e., the positive effects of OPC with AACs. AAMs can be utilized in many high-added-value applications such as soil stabilization, ceramics, and composite production, structural elements, repair and protective coatings, immobilization of toxic metals and nuclear wastes, thermal insulation, biomedical materials, and others.
The scope of this Special Issue, which is the 3rd edition of “Advances in Alkali-Activated Materials”, is to promote the broad potential of raw materials (precursors and activators), new applications, and a better understanding of the chemical, mechanical, and durability behaviors of AAMs in different applications. Potential topics for submissions include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Precursors of alkali-activated materials (natural pozzolan, construction and demolition wastes, fly ashes, slags, and others);
- Conventional and alternative activators;
- Alkali-activated concretes (design methodology, properties, and durability);
- One-part mix designs (“just add water” dry mixtures);
- Hybrid cements;
- Life cycle assessment (LCA);
- 3D printing;
- New Applications.
Prof. Dr. Ruby Mejía de Gutiérrez
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.
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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
- alkali-activated materials
- geopolymers
- building materials
- valorization of industrial wastes and construction and demolition wastes
- corrosion, durability and sustainability of cementitious materials
- eco-friendly construction materials
- 3D printing
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