Geopolymers are green materials with three-dimensional silicon and aluminum tetrahedral structures that can be serving as environmentally friendly construction materials and therefore have the potential to contribute to sustainable development. In this paper, the mechanism and research progress regarding the carbonation resistance, structural fire resistance, corrosion resistance, permeation properties and frost resistance of geopolymer concretes are reviewed, and the main problems with the durability of geopolymer concretes are discussed. Geopolymers possess the superb mechanic property and their compression strengths could be higher than 100 MPa. Generally, the higher the GPC strength, the better the carbonation-resistant. GPC has excellent fire resistance, due to geopolymers are acquired an inorganic skeleton which is affected by the alkali content, alkali cation, and Si/Ai ratio. There are a large number of Al-O and Si-O structures in geopolymers. Geopolymers do not react with acids at room temperature and can be used to make acid-resistant materials. Besides, GPC owning low porosity volume shows good resistance to permeability. The freezing-thawing failure mechanism of geopolymer concretes is mainly based on hydrostatic and osmotic pressure theory. GPC has poor frost resistance, and the freezing-thawing limit is less than 75 times.

The current work aimed to explore the effect of Na/Al ratios of 0.43, 0.53, 0.63, 0.73, 0.83, and 0.93, using NaOH to alter the molar ratio, on the mechanical properties of a geopolymer material, with fixing of the Si/Al molar ratio. While fixing the Na/Al molar ratio, alteration of the Si/Al ratios to 1.7, 1.75, 1.8, 1.85, 1.9, 1.95 was used, with silica fume and sodium silicate as a silica corrector. The influence on the micromorphology and macro-strength of samples was characterized through SEM, EDS, and compressive strength characterization methods. The results show that Si/Al and Na/Al molar ratios play a significant role in the microstructure and mechanical behavior of MK-based geopolymers, and revealed that the optimal molar Si/Al and Na/Al ratios for attaining maximum mechanical strength in geopolymers are 1.9 and 0.73, respectively. Under various Si/Al ratios, the macro-strength of the geopolymer mainly relies on the formation of NASH gel, rather than zeolites or silicate derivatives. The appropriate Na/Al molar ratio can contribute to the geopolymerization, but a ultra-high Na/Al molar ratio caused a high alkali state that destroyed the microstructure of the geopolymers. Regardless of the amount of water contained in the initial geopolymer raw material, the water content of Si/Al = 1.65 and Si/Al = 1.75 after curing for 10 days was almost the same, and the bound water content of the final geopolymer was maintained at about 15%. Structural water exists in geological polymer gels in the form of a chemical structure. It has effects on the structural performance strength, while free water affects the volume stability of the geological polymer. Overall, the current work provides a perspective on the elemental composition analysis, combined with the molecular structure and micromorphology, to explore the mechanical performance of geopolymers.

Electrostatic dielectric capacitors with ultrahigh power densities are sought after for advanced electronic and electrical systems owing to their ultrafast charge-discharge capability. However, low energy density resulting from low breakdown strength and suppressed polarization still remains a daunting challenge for practical applications. We propose a microstructural strategy with dendritic nanopolar (DNP) regions self-assembled into an insulator, which simultaneously enhances breakdown strength and high-field polarizability and minimizes energy loss and thus markedly improves energy storage performance and stability. For illustration, in this study, we achieved a high energy density of 215.8 joules per cubic centimeter with an efficiency of 80.7% at a high electric field of 7.4 megavolts per centimeter in a DNP structure–designed PbZr _0.53 Ti _0.47 O ₃ -MgO film. The proposed strategy is generally applicable for development of high-performance dielectric microcapacitors.

Flexoelectricity is especially relevant for nanoscale structures and it is expected to be largest at the tip of cracks. We demonstrate the presence of a huge flexoelectric polarization at crack tips in SrTiO3 by direct observation with scanning transmission electron microscopy. We observe an averaged polarization of 62 ± 16 µC·cm-2 in the three unit cells adjacent to the crack tip, which is one of the largest flexoelectric polarizations ever reported. The polarization is screened by an electron density of 0.7 ± 0.1 e-/uc localized within one unit cell. These findings reveal the relevance of flexoelectricity for the science of crack formation and propagation.