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能够被塑造成大型复杂形式而闻名，同时确保成本效益。然而，混凝土是一种很差的隔热材料。根据美国能源情报署的数据，低效建筑围护结构造成的能源损失给房主带来了过重的经济负担。在这项研究中，将研究一种新型轻质混凝土中的热传输，这种混凝土具有优异的固有耐热性。如果成功，这一结果将使我们的社会受益于一种新型多功能建筑材料，这种材料可以在保持结构性能的同时降低供暖和制冷能耗，附带的好处是它很轻。所获得的知识可被工业界和学术界用于开发急需的节能和有弹性的建筑围护结构。此外，这种新材料可以加强我们的国家能源安全，并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输、原子模拟、材料合成和表征等领域获得独特的多学科学习体验。本研究的目的是利用短链有机硅烷分子在硅酸钙(C-S-H)的分子结构中引入高效的散射机制，以获得一种新型的具有高耐热性和承载能力的轻质混凝土。本研究将材料合成和表征方法与原子模拟相结合，研究了特定尺寸的有机金属分子交联的C-S-H的热传递和凝聚力的基本原理。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用于评估含有C-S-H有机纳米层板和微珠的新型轻质水泥复合材料的热机械性能。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智力优势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.