Alkali activated materials (AAMs) have gained great attention as a new low-carbon binder. However, their durability performance, e.g. chloride ingress resistance, still needs further improvement. This study attempts to enhance the binding of AAMs by activating slag with sodium aluminate aim promote in-situ formation layered double hydroxides (LDHs). The evolution pH and ions in pore solution, r...

Calcium aluminate cement (CAC) suffers from loss of workability in less than an hour (~15 minutes) after first touch of water. Current superplasticizers that are utilized to modify the viscosity of cement admixtures are designed to target ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The high affinity between these superplasticizers and cement particles were found to be detrimental in CAC systems. Utilizatio...

Ettringite is a hexacalcium aluminate trisulfate hydrate mineral that forms during Portland cement hydration. Its presence plays an important role in controlling the setting rate of the highly reactive aluminate phases in cement paste and has also been associated with severe cracking in cured hardened cement. To understand how it forms and how its properties influence those of hardened cement a...

Tris(2-pyridyl)borates are introduced as a new robust and tunable "scorpionate"-type ligand family. A facile synthesis of this hitherto unknown ligand and its complexation to Fe(II) are described; the optical and electrochemical properties of the resulting iron complex are compared to complexes derived from tris(pyrazolyl)borate, tris(2-pyridyl)aluminate, and corresponding charge-neutral ligands.