Collaborative Research: Nanoengineering of Resilient Lightweight Concrete Mesostructures for Thermally Efficient Building Envelopes

水泥基材料以其承载能力和塑造大型复杂形式的能力而闻名，同时确保成本效益。然而，混凝土是一种很差的隔热材料。根据美国能源信息管理局的数据，低效的建筑围护结构造成的能源损失给房主带来了过度的经济负担。在本研究中，热传输将研究一种新型轻质混凝土，具有优越的固有热阻。如果成功，研究结果将使我们的社会受益，因为它是一种新的多功能建筑材料，可以降低加热和冷却的能源消耗，同时保持结构性能，附带的好处是它的重量轻。所获得的知识可以被工业界和学术界用于开发急需的节能和弹性建筑围护结构。此外，这种新材料可以加强我们的国家能源安全，以及提供积极的社会经济和环境影响。研究生和本科生将在热传递、原子模拟、材料合成和表征等领域提供独特的多学科学习经验。本研究的目的是利用短链有机硅烷分子将高效散射机制纳米化到硅酸钙水合物（C-S-H）的分子结构中，以实现具有高热阻和承载能力的新型轻质混凝土。本研究将材料合成和表征方法与原子模拟相结合，研究C-S-H与特定尺寸有机金属分子交联的热传递和内聚力的基本原理。分子模拟将在加州大学欧文分校进行，为休斯顿大学的研究人员进行的实验合成工作提供科学信息。材料表征的多尺度方法将应用于评估新型轻质水泥复合材料的热机械性能，该复合材料包含C-S-H有机纳米层压板和微微微球。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cement-based materials are known for their load-bearing capacity and ability to be shaped into large complex forms, while ensuring cost-effectiveness. However, concrete is a poor thermal insulator. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, energy loss through inefficient building envelopes inflicts excessive financial burden on homeowners. In this research, heat transport will be studied in a novel lightweight concrete that possesses superior intrinsic thermal resistance. If successful, the results will benefit our society with a new multifunctional building material that can lower heating and cooling energy consumption, while maintaining structural performance, with a collateral benefit that it is lightweight. The acquired knowledge can be utilized by industry and academia in development of highly needed energy efficient and resilient building envelopes. Furthermore, this new material can bolster our national energy security, as well as offering positive socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Graduate and undergraduate students will be offered unique multidisciplinary learning experiences across fields of heat transport, atomistic simulation, materials synthesis and characterization. The objective of this research is to nanoengineer high efficiency scattering mechanisms into the molecular structure of calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) using short-chain organosilanes molecules to achieve a novel lightweight concrete with high thermal resistance and load bearing capacity. This research combines materials synthesis and characterization methods with atomistic simulations to study fundamentals of heat transport and cohesion in C-S-H crosslinked with size-specific organometallic molecules. Molecular simulations will be performed at University of California, Irvine, to scientifically-inform the experimental synthesis efforts carried out by researchers at the University of Houston. Multi-scale methods of materials characterization will be applied to assess thermo-mechanical properties of novel lightweight cement composites incorporating C-S-H organo nano-laminates and micro-cenospheres.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.