Advanced Nanomaterials for Sustainable Construction and Infrastructure

Dear Colleagues,

Nanomaterials are rapidly reshaping how we design, build, monitor, and rehabilitate infrastructure in the pursuit of net-zero emissions, resource efficiency, and long-term resilience. By tailoring matter at the nano-scale, it is now possible to engineer materials and systems with unprecedented combinations of mechanical performance, durability, multifunctionality, and environmental compatibility. These advances cut across structural materials, protective coatings, energy-efficient building components, functional surfaces, and nano-enabled sensing technologies for the built environment.

This Special Issue, “Advanced Nanomaterials for Sustainable Construction and Infrastructure,” focuses on the development, characterization, and application of nanomaterials that contribute directly to more sustainable and intelligent infrastructure. We welcome studies on nano-modified binders, composites, and interfaces; nano-enabled sensing and monitoring platforms; green synthesis and circular use of nanomaterials; and integrative modeling and life-cycle assessment that clarify how nano-scale design translates into system-level benefits. Applications may range from buildings and transportation networks to energy, water, and environmental infrastructure, including advanced cementitious systems and ultra-high-performance solutions where nanomaterials play a central role in performance and sustainability.

The Special Issue aims to bridge fundamental nanoscience with practical engineering and policy-relevant metrics, providing a forum where materials scientists, civil and environmental engineers, chemists, physicists, and data scientists can converge. We particularly encourage contributions that couple rigorous nano-/micro-scale characterization with macro-scale behavior, and that propose transferable protocols to support future standards and responsible deployment of nanomaterials in infrastructure.

Aims & Scope

• This Special Issue aims to provide a focused platform for cutting-edge research and critical reviews on the design, characterization, and application of nanomaterials for sustainable and smart infrastructure systems. The emphasis is on how nano-scale tailoring of composition, structure, and interfaces can deliver step-change improvements in mechanical performance, durability, multifunctionality, and environmental footprint across the built environment.
• The scope spans nano-enabled solutions for construction and infrastructure materials, coatings, and components, including, but not limited to, eco-efficient binders, advanced cementitious and geopolymer systems, protective and functional surface layers, and nano-engineered composites for structural and non-structural applications. Particular attention is given to how nanomaterials can extend service life, reduce maintenance, enable self-sensing and structural health monitoring, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and support climate-resilient and low-carbon infrastructure. Within this broad context, contributions addressing nano-modified high-performance cementitious systems and ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) are welcome when nanomaterials play a central role in performance enhancement and sustainability.
• We especially encourage multi-scale studies that bridge nano-/micro-structure with macro-scale behavior, as well as works integrating experimental, numerical, and data-driven approaches to clarify mechanisms and guide design. Papers on green and circular nanomaterials, safe-by-design concepts, life-cycle and techno-economic assessments, and standardization or code-relevant methodologies are also of strong interest. Overall, the Special Issue seeks to connect materials science, civil and environmental engineering, and sustainability assessment to accelerate responsible deployment of nanomaterials in future infrastructure systems.

Topics of Interest

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

1. Design, synthesis, and characterization of nanomaterials for sustainable infrastructure and the built environment.
2. Nano-modified binders, coatings, and composites for enhanced durability, corrosion resistance, and service life.
3. Nano-engineered cementitious and geopolymer systems, including eco-efficient and ultra-high-performance formulations with reduced embodied carbon.
4. Bio-based and recycled nanomaterials (e.g., nanocellulose, waste-derived nanosilica, nano-glass) for circular and low-impact construction solutions.
5. Nanostructured surfaces and films for energy-efficient buildings (thermal management, solar control, photocatalytic self-cleaning, and air-purifying functions).
6. Nano-enabled sensing, self-sensing, and structural health monitoring technologies for smart infrastructure and digital twins.
7. Multi-scale modeling (from nano-structure to component-/system-level) linking nano-scale mechanisms to mechanical, durability, and functional performance.
8. Life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and risk assessment of nano-enabled infrastructure materials and systems.
9. Green synthesis routes, safe-by-design approaches, and regulatory perspectives for the responsible use of nanomaterials in infrastructure.
10. Innovative applications of nanomaterials in retrofitting, climate-resilient infrastructure, and nature-based or hybrid engineering solutions.

We look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Mahmoud H. Akeed
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.

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 2400 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.

• nanomaterials
• nanotechnology
• sustainable infrastructure
• built environment
• eco-efficient materials
• nano-engineered cementitious systems
• ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC)
• smart and self-sensing structures
• durability and service life
• circular economy
• life-cycle assessment