TY - JOUR

T1 - Smart Materials for Green(er) Cities, a Short Review

AU - Nicolay, Pascal

AU - Schlögl, Sandra

AU - Thaler, Stephan Mark

AU - Humbert, Claude

AU - Filipitsch, Bernd

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

PY - 2023/8/16

Y1 - 2023/8/16

N2 - The transition to sustainable or green(er) cities requires the development and implementation of many innovative technologies. It is vital to ensure that these technologies are themselves as sustainable and green as possible. In this context, smart materials offer excellent prospects for application. They are capable of performing a number of tasks (e.g., repair, opening/closing, temperature measurement, storage and release of thermal energy) without embedded electronics or power supplies. In this short review paper, we present some of the most promising smart material-based technologies for sustainable or green(er) cities. We will briefly present the state-of-the-art in smart concrete for the structural health monitoring and self-healing of civil engineering structures, phase-change materials (PCM) for passive air-conditioning, shape-memory materials (SMA) for various green applications, and meta-surfaces for green acoustics. To better illustrate the potential of some of the solutions discussed in the paper, we present, where appropriate, our most recent experimental results (e.g., embedded SAW sensors for the Structural Health Monitoring of concrete structures). The main aim of this paper is to promote green solutions based on smart materials to engineers and scientists involved in R&D projects for green(er) cities.

AB - The transition to sustainable or green(er) cities requires the development and implementation of many innovative technologies. It is vital to ensure that these technologies are themselves as sustainable and green as possible. In this context, smart materials offer excellent prospects for application. They are capable of performing a number of tasks (e.g., repair, opening/closing, temperature measurement, storage and release of thermal energy) without embedded electronics or power supplies. In this short review paper, we present some of the most promising smart material-based technologies for sustainable or green(er) cities. We will briefly present the state-of-the-art in smart concrete for the structural health monitoring and self-healing of civil engineering structures, phase-change materials (PCM) for passive air-conditioning, shape-memory materials (SMA) for various green applications, and meta-surfaces for green acoustics. To better illustrate the potential of some of the solutions discussed in the paper, we present, where appropriate, our most recent experimental results (e.g., embedded SAW sensors for the Structural Health Monitoring of concrete structures). The main aim of this paper is to promote green solutions based on smart materials to engineers and scientists involved in R&D projects for green(er) cities.

KW - green acoustics

KW - green cities

KW - meta-surfaces

KW - phase-change materials

KW - SAW sensors

KW - shape-memory alloys

KW - smart concrete

KW - smart materials

KW - sustainable cities

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85169117520&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/app13169289

DO - 10.3390/app13169289

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85169117520

VL - 13.2023

JO - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

JF - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

SN - 2076-3417

IS - 16

M1 - 9289

ER -