Sustainable Cementitious and Hybrid Materials: Design, Processing, and Performance

The built environment is undergoing a rapid transition toward sustainability. This shift is driven by the need to reduce environmental impact while maintaining structural performance, durability, and constructability. Cementitious materials remain central to this transition, which continues to motivate intensive research into sustainable binders, hybrid material systems, and advanced processing techniques. Recent advances in material chemistry, rheology control, durability engineering, and additive manufacturing have expanded the design space of cement-based materials. In parallel, data-driven and computational approaches are increasingly used to explore complex structure property relationships.
Despite this progress, significant challenges remain in integrating sustainable material design with reliable performance across construction methods and service environments.

This Research Topic aims to showcase recent advances in sustainable cementitious and hybrid materials, with a strong emphasis on the links between material design, processing, and performance in the built environment. We seek contributions that improve understanding of how binder chemistry, mixture design, and processing routes influence fresh-state behavior, mechanical performance, and long-term durability.

Particular interest is given to studies that address constructability under realistic conditions, including emerging construction technologies such as additive manufacturing. Contributions that use data-driven methods, machine learning, or multi-physics modeling to support material optimization and performance prediction are strongly encouraged.

By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from civil engineering, materials science, and construction engineering, this Research Topic intends to provide actionable insights that support the deployment of sustainable materials in real-world infrastructure and building applications.


Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

o Sustainable and alternative binders
o Hybrid cementitious composites and multi-binder systems
o Fresh-state rheology, workability, and buildability
o Durability, degradation mechanisms, and transport properties
o Compatibility with reinforcement and structural requirements
o Processing routes, including additive manufacturing and advanced curing strategies
o Experimental characterization integrated with modeling or data-driven approaches
o Multi-physics simulation, machine learning, and performance prediction for material optimization

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: Sustainable construction materials, Cementitious materials, Hybrid binders, Durability, Rheology, Additive manufacturing, Data-driven materials design

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.