Special Issue "Biomimetic Infrastructure Materials: Towards a Greener Future"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Riccardo Maddalena
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK
Interests: materials analysis and characterization; environmental monitoring; geology; environmental engineering; cement and concrete chemistry; nanoparticles; building materials; geopolymers; sustainability of green construction materials
Dr. Diane Gardner
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Cardiff University, UK
Interests: durability of cementitious materials; structural design; numerical modelling of flow processes; self-healing cementitious materials
Prof. Dr. Kevin Paine
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Somerset, UK
Interests: bacteria-based self-healing concrete; self-sensing concrete using graphene and other sensors; electrically conductive concrete; nanotechnology enhanced concrete; recycled aggregates; low-carbon cements; geopolymers
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. John Sweeney
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
IRC in Polymer Science and Technology, School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
Interests: polymers; mechanical properties; constitutive model; finite element modelling; shape memory polymer
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Abir Al-Tabbaa
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Interests: self-healing and self-sensing infrastructure materials; low carbon cements and binders; industrial by-products and waste reuse; carbon capture and storage; encapsulation technologies; smart fibres; smart coatings; graphene and nanotechnology; resilience against physical and chemical damage; multi-scale engineering, Life cycle analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last decade we have made significant progress in improving the efficiency of the built environment. Scientists around the world have designed strategies for self-repairing building materials using cutting-edge technologies. Providing infrastructure with the unique ability to self-heal damage without external intervention has made the development of durable materials possible and reduced the further need for in-situ maintenance. The Resilient Materials 4 Life consortium has contributed greatly to these achievements, developing biomimetic infrastructure materials capable of self-diagnosing, self-sensing, self-immunising and self-healing damage—a holistic approach intended to imitate the human body’s response to external damage. Biomimetic materials represent the future of sustainable infrastructure, with enhanced longevity and substantial reduction in energy consumption and maintenance costs, relative to conventional cementitious materials.

This Special Issue will provide a collection of noteworthy studies on:

  • Methodologies and/or case studies on innovative self-healing infrastructure materials;
  • Retrofitting and optimisation of existing structures with biomimetic characteristics;
  • Numerical investigations on biomimetic composite structures;
  • Carbon footprint analysis and life cycle assessment studies on biomimetic construction;
  • Case studies on life cycle assessment and service life prediction of infrastructure designed with biomimetic materials.

Original papers related to the above topics are welcome.

Thank you for your contributions.

Dr. Riccardo Maddalena
Dr. Diane Gardner
Prof. Abir Al-Tabbaa
Prof. Kevin Paine
Prof. John Sweeney
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 papers will be 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. Sustainability 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 1900 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

  • Self-healing materials
  • Biomimetic materials
  • Sustainability
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Self-sensing and infrastructure sensors
  • Corrosion
  • Bacterial healing
  • Service life prediction

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Ureolytic MICP-Based Self-Healing Mortar under Artificial Seawater Incubation
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4834; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094834 - 25 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 565
Abstract
Ureolytic microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a promising green technique for addressing sustainable building concerns by promoting self-healing mortar development. This paper deals with bacteria-based self-healing mortar under artificial seawater incubation for the sake of fast crack sealing with sufficient calcium resource [...] Read more.
Ureolytic microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a promising green technique for addressing sustainable building concerns by promoting self-healing mortar development. This paper deals with bacteria-based self-healing mortar under artificial seawater incubation for the sake of fast crack sealing with sufficient calcium resource supply. The ureolytic MICP mechanism was explored by morphology characterization and compositional analysis. With polyvinyl alcohol fiber reinforcement, self-healing mortar beams were produced and bent to generate 0.4 mm width cracks at the bottom. The crack-sealing capacity was evaluated at an age of 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days, suggesting a 1-week and 2-week healing time for 7-day- and 14-day-old samples. However, the 28-day-old ones failed to heal the cracks completely. The precipitation crystals filling the crack gap were identified as mainly vaterite with cell imprints. Moreover, fiber surface was found to be adhered by bacterial precipitates indicating fiber–matrix interfacial bond repair. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomimetic Infrastructure Materials: Towards a Greener Future)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) case study on biomimetic infrastructure materials
Authors: Maddalena; Balzano; Gardner; Jefferson
Affiliation: Cardiff University

Title: The long-term performance of a self-healing cementitious composite with tetrahedral inclusions
Authors: Maddalena; Balzano; Oufan; Sweeney; Jefferson
Affiliation: Cardiff University

Title: SCMs in the construction industry: a comparison between the UK and Japan
Authors: Maddalena; Gardner; Nishiwaki
Affiliation: Cardiff University

Title: Comparison of environmental impact of microencapsulation technologies using LCA
Authors: Litina; Riordan; Palmer; Al-Tabbaa
Affiliation: University of Cambridge

Title: Green corrosion inhibitors for self-immunisation against steel corrosion in reinforced concrete simulated pore solution
Authors: Zomorodian; Xie; Bagonyi; Al-Tabbaa
Affiliation: University of Cambridge

Title: Extrusion of smart fibres for self-sensing applications in cementitious systems using waste plastics
Authors: Zheng; Bagonyi; Al-Tabbaa
Affiliation: University of Cambridge

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