Recent Advances in Geopolymer Technology. A Potential Eco-Friendly Solution in the Construction Materials Industry: A Review

In the last ten years, Portland cement industry has received wide criticism due to its related high embodied energy and carbon dioxide footprint. Recently, numerous “clean” strategies solutions were developed. Among these, geopolymer technology is gaining growing interest as a functional way design more eco-friendly construction materials for waste management issues suffered by various industries. Previous research highlighted attractive engineering properties of geopolymeric materials, especially in terms mechanical durability, resulting even higher performance than ordinary concrete. This review provides comprehensive analysis current state-of-the-art implementations on concrete investigating how key process factors (such raw synthesis regime, alkali concentration, water dosage, reinforcement fillers) affect rheological, microstructural, properties. Finally, paper elucidates some noteworthy aspects future development: innovative geopolymer-based formulations (including alkali-activated blends additive manufacturing thermo-acoustic insulating cellular compounds), applications successfully scaled civil-architectural fields, perspective directions commercialization large-scale diffusion.