Geopolymer foams: An overview of recent advancements

abstract

Geopolymer foams (highly porous materials) have emerged as one of the most exciting materials over the past few years due to their remarkable properties, low cost and green synthesis protocol, enabling their use in various high added-value applications. Review papers on porous geopolymers are uncommon, and the emphasis has been given to materials processing and properties, while the applications were only briefly addressed. This review aims to fill this gap by presenting a comprehensive literature survey and critical analysis of the most recent and exciting research carried out on geopolymer foams. Up to now, these bulk-type (not powders) materials have been mainly considered as thermal and acoustic insulators. However, besides addressing their use as building material, this review also shows that their use in less investigated, but environmentally and economically relevant applications (e.g. bulk-type adsorbents, pH buffering agents and catalysts), is feasible and might ensure performance and technical advantages over their powdered counterparts. The limitations, challenges and future prospects associated with the different applications are presented. This review shows the remarkable potential of geopolymer foams in high added-value applications, far beyond their historical use as Portland cement replacement, which may encourage the widespread technological use of these materials.

keywords

ASH-BASED GEOPOLYMER; METAKAOLIN-BASED GEOPOLYMER; ALKALI-ACTIVATED MATERIALS; POROUS FLY-ASH; ALUMINOSILICATE INORGANIC POLYMER; MOISTURE BUFFERING CAPACITY; HEAVY-METALS ADSORPTION; PORE-SIZE DISTRIBUTION; THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY; SILICA-FUME

subject category

Materials Science

authors

Novais, RM; Pullar, RC; Labrincha, JA

our authors

acknowledgements

R.M. Novais wishes to thank FCT for supporting his work (Ref. CEECIND/00335/2017). R.C. Pullar thanks the FCT for supporting this work through grant IF/00681/2015. This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, FCT Ref. UID/CTM/50011/2019, financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTES. The authors are grateful to the JECS Trust for funding Contract 2017146. We thank the publishers (Elsevier and Springer Nature) for grating us copyright permissions (IDs: 4675260115011, 4675260338014, 4675260526798, 4675260827731, 4675261244446, 4675260941369, 4675261468273, 4675261065199, 4675270095675, 4675270286403, 4675270486221) to reproduce their printed works.

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