Sustainability of Our Built Environments: Recycled and Bio-sourced Materials for the Construction Sector in the Context of Circular Economy

Sustainability of our built environments is becoming increasingly important, especially, given the added uncertainties in terms of energy production, supply, and conservation for our dwellings. Concomitantly, it is highly prudent to deploy our synthetic capabilities for formulating novel bio-resourced and environmentally friendly materials for the building sector. Here an equal emphasis should be laid on the ‘three R’ principle of: Reducing, Recycling, and Reusing material components, especially, in the realm of modern and past-paced residential construction. This could also involve, for example, exploring basic functional group chemistries in arriving at novel materials, which could, ideally, entail the use of recycled materials as the primary starting materials. In this context, the main focus should be placed on bio-resourced precursors, where carrying out appropriate chemical transformations in their molecular architectures may be required.

Through the current Research Topic, we intend to unravel the research carried out in the vital area of sustainable materials for the construction sector, by providing a platform for the dissemination of the fruitful results accrued in the subject area of the chemistry and physics of such materials. The primary aim is to identify novel chemistries as well as assessments of the physical properties, durability attributes, and recyclability aspects of these materials. Here the main emphasis will be on the synthetic and associated formulation strategies, especially, in arriving at hybrid materials, preferably, through appropriate modification reactions on base substrates. These could also include molecularly dispersed multicomponent systems, including nanocomposites. Characterization of the target materials in terms of their chemical natures, structural features, and physical properties will form an integral part of the Research Topic.

This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspectives on the following, but not limited to, areas:

• Sustainable and bio-sourced materials;
• Biodegradable and environmentally-benign polymers;
• Recycling of commodity plastics and construction wastes;
• High temperature- and fire-resistant polymers;
• Inorganic and hybrid materials;
• Novel materials for energy production, conservation, and storage
• Circular economy principles related to building materials
• Life cycle analyses of modern construction elements

Keywords: functional materials, formulation and characterization, physical properties, structure-property correlations, life cycle analysis, circular economy

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.