Adhesive-Coupled Polymer Multistage Modified Sustainable Alkali-Activated Materials: Barrier Performance and Microstructural Investigation Under Accelerated Curing Conditions

Yantao Guo, Qun Huan, Yue Hu, Xian Cao, Shaofeng Wang, Ziye Wang, Yue Hui and Min Song ()
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Yantao Guo: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Qun Huan: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Yue Hu: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Xian Cao: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Shaofeng Wang: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Ziye Wang: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Yue Hui: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
Min Song: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Alkali-activated materials have gained increasing popularity in the field of soil barrier materials due to their high strength and low environmental impact. However, barrier materials made from alkali-activated materials still suffer from long setting times and poor barrier performance in acidic, alkaline, and saline environments, which hinders the sustainable development of green alkali-activated materials. Herein, coconut shell biochar, sodium silicate-based adhesives, and polyether polyol/polypropylene polymers were used for multi-stage material modification. The modified materials were evaluated for barrier performance, rapid formation, and resistance to acidic, alkaline, and saline environments, using metrics such as compressive strength, permeability, mass loss, and VOC diffusion efficiency. The results indicated that adhesive modification reduced the material’s setting time from 72 to 12 h. Polymer modification improved resistance to corrosion by 15–20%. The biochar-containing multi-stage modified materials achieved VOC diffusion barrier efficiency of over 99% in both normal and corrosive conditions. These improvements are attributed to the adhesive accelerating calcium silicate hydration and forming strength-enhancing compounds, the polymer providing corrosion resistance, and biochar enhancing the volatile organic compounds (VOC) barrier properties. The combined modification yielded a highly effective multi-stage green barrier material suitable for rapid barrier formation and corrosion protection. These findings contribute to evaluating multi-level modified barrier materials’ effectiveness and potential benefits in this field and provide new insights for the development of modified, green, and efficient alkali-activated barrier materials, promoting the green and sustainable development of soil pollution control technologies.

Keywords: multistage-modified alkali-activated barrier materials; unconfined compressive strength; permeability; adhesive; polymer; sustainable environmental functional materials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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