Geopolymers with tailored porosity

Geopolymers are synthetic materials formed by alkali-activation of aluminosilicate particles. They have attracted increasing attention as sustainable materials, being obtained from different raw materials, including industrial by-products, and by production processes at low temperature. Thanks to the good properties showed by these materials (thermal stability, fire-resistance, etc.), and the intrinsic mesoporosity, geopolymers have been studied as new materials for applications in many industrially relevant fields. To achieve full advantage of their porous structure, it is necessary to control its formation. The geopolymer production process in aqueous medium allows to tailor the porosity from nanometric to millimetric range since water acts as pore former. Moreover, ultra-macroporosity may be induced in the materials exploiting different techniques, commonly used for the production of porous ceramics, determining the possibility to obtain materials with different architectures, pore size and shape, etc. Hierarchical pore systems, where the mesopores of the geopolymer skeletal materials are directly connected to macro- and finally to ultra-macropores, may be constructed in this way. The main goal of this research project was to investigate the use of different process techniques applied to geopolymer matrices to generate porous structures characterized by peculiar porosities able to determine specific properties and functionalize the materials. In detail, the porosity was induced by direct foaming or addition of lightweight aggregates. Furthermore, geopolymers with main unidirectional anisotropic macropores were produced, for the first time, using a freeze-casting technique. All the materials produced were deeply investigated to optimize the production processes and evaluate the final properties, many of which arising from the intrinsic and induced porosity generated, in order to address the materials for potential applications as, for example, thermal insulating panels or heat transfer devices.