3-D flowerlike mesoporous architectures constructed by the ultrathin perpendicularly aligned mesoporous nanoflakes synthesized via a cooperative layered calcium silicate hydrates and liquid crystal dual-templating approach show an enhanced asymmetric catalytic activity owing to the facilitated diffusion from the reduced thickness of perpendicularly aligned mesoporous nanoflakes.

The binding phase of cementitious materials, calcium–silicate–hydrates, can be described as nanogranular and as an inorganic hydrogel. Similar to other hydrated “soft matter,” the water confined within the nanoto microscale pores of such cementitious materials plays a crucial role in the structure and properties of cement pastes. When compared to organic hydrogels, non-stoichiometric calcium–si...

Mid-infrared (IR) spectra of a series of calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) gels synthesised from C3S in the presence of magnesium oxide show many similarities with the mid-IR spectra of pure C-S-H gels. However, the presence of the vibration bands attributed to brucite is observed in all spectra of C-S-H synthesised with MgO, although only the sample with the highest CaO/SiO2 ratio (1.8) reveal...

Herein, the performance of graphene oxide (GO) in improving mechanical properties and subsequently reducing the permeability of cement composites used in concrete pavement, is studied. A polycarboxylate superplasticizer was used to improve the dispersion of GO flakes in the cement. The mechanical strength of graphene-cement nanocomposites containing 0.1–2 wt% GO and 0.5 wt% superplasticizer was...

Geopressured reservoirs can serve as ample source of geothermal energy with temperatures as high as 140 0C. Salinities are typically high in these reservoirs due to the dissolution of surrounding salt domes. Cement retrogression can occur under these geopressured geothermal conditions resulting from calcium silicate hydrate [3CaO2SiO23H2O] phase in hydrated cement converting to alpha dicalciu...

In this paper, the effects of different aluminum to silicon ratios in silicate chains of calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) are evaluated on the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions by molecular dynamics method. Tobermorite is a crystalline phase that is used for studying C-S-H properties in nano scale, because of its analogous chemical composition to C-S-H. Aluminum incorporation in C-S-H and...

Effect of Fe3+ on the precipitation synthetic calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) under controlled conditions has been evaluated. Using extremely basic either initial nitrate or sodium solutions (pH > 11), incipient formation ferrihydrite in both was observed. In this case C-S-H and iron-containing siliceous hydrogarnet are formed. For pH < 11, absent. Only is The presence magnetically dilute sho...