Functionalized Mineral Materials in Environmental and Civil Engineering, Ceramics, Foundry and Metals

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid progress of technology and the emergence of new materials with special properties have created a flourishing field of research in materials science. The unique physicochemical properties of materials can generate effective solutions to challenging environmental and technological problems. As a result of this approach, a large number of techniques have been developed that enable obtaining novel materials with specific and reproducible properties and parameters. Mineral materials occupy a special place, thanks to the natural diversity of their properties. This opens the possibility for their use in many applications. An undisputed advantage is their high availability on the Earth's surface. Moreover, very often there is no need to modify the properties of natural mineral resources. It is crucial to perceive a specific feature of the mineral that allows its particular use. In other cases, improvement of properties through physical or chemical treatment is sufficient to obtain a functional mineral material for use in many industries, such as environmental and civil engineering, ceramics, foundry, and metals.

This Special Issue, collecting topics of interdisciplinary studies, aims to provide the current top trends in the functionalization techniques of mineral materials for specific applications. Additionally, reports on the unique properties of functionalized materials and their characterization with dedicated analytical methods are welcome.  

We do believe that this collection will contribute to the development of functionalization techniques of minerals and will become the source of new ideas for the design, synthesis, and use of mineral-based materials.

Prof. Dr. Tomasz Bajda
Dr. Jakub Matusik
Guest Editors

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