Posted on 08/21/2025 7:10:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
Performance tests have confirmed material’s high mechanical robustness.
Researchers from China have developed a new type of cement that does not absorb sunlight. The material developed by researchers from Southeast University in China scatters sunlight instead of absorbing it.
The team highlighted that supercool cement featured intrinsic high strength, armored abrasive resistance, and optical stability, even when exposed to harsh conditions, such as corrosive liquids, ultraviolet radiation, and freeze-thaw cycles.
Cement achieved temperature drop
A machine learning–guided life-cycle assessment indicated its potential to achieve a net-negative carbon emission profile, according to the research work. The team also pointed out that the photonic-architecture cement achieved a temperature drop of 9.72°F (5.4°C) during midday conditions with a solar intensity of 850 watts per square meter.
The team also revealed that the material is engineered with metasurfaces. The supercool cement is designed as a matrix-directed radiative cooling material suitable for use as both a radiative cooler and a structural material in buildings for roofs and walls.
This metasurface engineering strategy offers a universal solution that is applicable even for conventional commercial Portland cement, which also takes on a surface ettringite-enrichment manner toward higher.
Chemical composition
The researchers first adjusted the chemical composition of the small particles (clinker) that form the basic material of the cement to create a structure that scatters sunlight effectively. They then produced cement with cooling functionality by applying pressure.
Published in the journal Science Advances, the research revealed that the self-assembly of multiple-sized reflective ettringites as main hydration products toward the metasurface, coupled with hierarchical pores, guaranteed high solar reflectance (96.2 percent), whereas raw materials containing alumina- and sulfur-rich function groups leveraged inherent mid-infrared emissivity (96 percent).
Performance tests confirmed its robustness
The research team pointed out that the “extensive performance tests confirmed its high mechanical robustness under compressive, flexural, abrasive, and adhesive forces, as well as its amphiphobicity, plasticity for complex shapes, and overall design versatility.”
The material’s cost-effectiveness and scalable fabrication processes give it unparalleled advantages over other materials, making it suitable for use in coatings, structural roofs, and walls, even in severe environments, as per the study.
“In this study, we designed a novel type of cement raw particles, and further engineered a metasurface-enhanced supercool cement with self-assembled reflective crystals on light-interactive surfaces. This cement achieved high solar reflectance (96.2 percent) and blackbody-like emissivity (96 percent) in the long-wave infrared spectrum,” said researchers in the study.
Guo Lu, a researcher and the first author of the paper, revealed that applying this cooling cement to urban buildings could lead to significant energy savings and serve as an important turning point in climate response.
Guo also highlighted that the innovation transforms heavy, heat-storing conventional cement into an eco-friendly material with solar heat reflection and emission capabilities.
The team also measured the real-time performance of the supercool cement on the roofs of actual buildings.
At 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. when the temperature reached 101.1 degree Fahrenheit (38.4 degrees Celsius), the supercool cement was 9.72°F (5.4 degrees Celsius) lower than the surroundings. In the same conditions, conventional cement heated up to 59 degrees, showing a stark contrast, reported Chosun Biz.
And it falls apart in record time too !
Their metal is Chinesium.
Would this be Chinotcrete?
who did they steal this from?
Sounds like a defect which the marketing folks are trying to spin.
Now if the Romans made something similar, I’d listen.
New product name -- "Shrink-&-Crack-Crete." Makes removal easy as pie. Guaranteed to not be guaranteed.
China and the term robust go together not, especially when it comes to materials like concrete, steel and construction.
China and the term robust go together not, especially when it comes to materials like concrete, steel and construction.
They’re making homes out of concrete. Wouldn’t want to be in one during an earthquake.
Being China, I question all data being given.
My 3-story high school was poured concrete. It was used as a hurricane shelter for the citizens and bomb shelter (if needed) during WWII.
Sounds good, sooo, if it’s sooo good, why didn’t they use it in their tofu dreg construction jobs? You know, the ones falling down everywhere?
Concrete is fine and preferable to wood unless you’re in a seismic zone.
There are also some 3D printed concrete structures that meet California earthquake code; just a guess but the concrete is probably fiberglass reinforced.
If done properly with reinforcing rebar or mesh, concrete buildings can be resilient. But the Chinese are always cutting corners. I’ve heard of them collapsing in the slightest of earthquakes in places that contracted them.
It cost more to heat 3/4 of the year.
EC
Somehow the phrase “Chinese cement “ alays brings an image to mind “building falls down”.
lol. There goes “global warming”.
I remember their sheetrock and flooring products caused many health issues.
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