Limestone calcined clay cement (LC³) is a recently developed binder with huge potential to reduce the clinker factor in cement and the environmental impact. This study aimed to evaluate the evolution of the research on LC³ by conducting a bibliometric analysis, evaluating key metrics such as publications, authorships, sources, or countries, to provide greater knowledge and a strategic vision of this technology. This work provides an important perspective of the field and elucidates the research trends and path that the LC³ technology followed from its beginning to date. The analysis reveals a noticeable increase in technology readiness and researchers' interest, as indicated by a significant rise in publications' number over time. Also, the authorship metrics reveal an important cooperation between communities in the development of this technology. The research on LC³ is essential since the technology is a viable and reliable approach to decreasing the cement industry's carbon footprint.

Thermal Energy Storage (TES) materials, such as Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are proven to enhance the energy efficiency in many fields, such as automotive and building sectors, which correspond to the most energy intensive ones. Shape-stabilized PCM and cascade PCM are procedures to overcome the most important barriers when PCMs are applied since PCMs need to be encapsulated for their technical use: the leakage of the liquid phase, corrosion, low heat transfer and narrow temperature of application. In the present study, a novel shape stabilized PCM with cascade performance (cascade shape stabilized phase change material, CSS-PCM) is synthesized via dissolution, which allows up to 60 wt.% of a paraffin-PCM in the final composition. The novel CSS-PCM is based on a biopolymer, the polycaprolactone (PCL), a low melting temperature polyester as polymeric matrix and RT27 and Micronal DS 5040 acting as PCM. To evaluate the performance of the new TES materials developed, several techniques have been used: Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier-Transformed Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were used to evaluate the thermophysical properties and the chemical properties of the different formulations. The CSS-PCM show an increment of storage capacity by increasing the PCM content, and the thermal reliability was also tested: some of the CSS-PCM formulations were stable for up to 500 thermal cycles. Finally, as a potential application of the new polymeric-based PCM 3D, a printing attempt was performed in order to analyze the viability of the formulations to be used as 3D printing material as a first proof of concept.

Layered hybrid halometallates are highlighted for their adaptable thermal, electrical, and optical properties by modifying the alkylammonium or metal constituents. However, the conventional synthesis procedures of these materials present some sustainability and scalability issues. To tackle these issues, mechanochemistry is a promising alternative synthesis which uses mechanical energy and can reduce the solvent content required. Mechanochemical synthesis has proven to be an effective synthesis route for various perovskite structures, but research on bis­(alkylammonium) tetrahalometallates is limited. Here, we explore the feasibility of synthesizing bis­(alkylammonium) tetrahalometallates through ball milling and reducing solvent usage. Crystal and molecular results confirmed the successful synthesis with minimal impurities, <5 wt %. The bis­(alkylammonium) tetrahalometallates obtained through ball milling presented comparable enthalpy and specific heat values to those obtained through traditional synthesis routes. Moreover, the ball milling synthesis consumed significantly less energy and solvent and led to higher reaction yield than the traditional synthesis methods, thereby enhancing the sustainability of the process. Overall, the results validate the synthesis through ball milling as a viable and environmentally efficient method for bis­(alkylammonium) tetrahalometallates.