Smart and renewable building materials for sustainable architecture: properties, applications, challenges, future perspectives, systematic review

Autores

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58594/rtest.v6i3.237

Palavras-chave:

Smart materials, renewable building materials, sustainable architecture, green buildings, self-healing concrete, smart buildings, advanced construction technologies

Resumo

Rapid urbanization, increasing energy consumption, natural resource depletion, and intensifying climate change impacts have positioned the construction industry as a critical sector for sustainable development. Buildings account for substantial global energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource utilization, making advanced building materials with smart functionalities and renewable origins essential for reducing environmental impacts while enhancing performance. Smart materials respond to external stimuli, including temperature, humidity, light, mechanical stress, and electric fields, by modifying their physical or chemical properties in controlled ways. Renewable building materials, derived primarily from renewable resources or bio-based feedstocks, contribute to reducing embodied carbon, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. Integrating smart and renewable materials can improve building durability and service life while reducing energy demand, maintenance costs, and carbon emissions. Their convergence with emerging technologies, including the Internet of Things, Building Information Modeling, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twin technology, creates opportunities for intelligent, energy-efficient, and low-carbon buildings. This study employs a systematic literature review to examine recent scientific advances in smart and renewable building materials, analyzing their main categories, functional characteristics, applications, advantages, limitations, and future trends. Findings indicate that self-healing concrete, self-sensing concrete, shape memory alloys, smart glazing systems, phase change materials, engineered wood, bio-based composites, and building-integrated photovoltaic systems can enhance structural performance and support sustainable architecture. However, high initial costs, insufficient implementation standards, technical complexity, limited long-term performance data, and constraints in large-scale manufacturing remain significant barriers to their widespread adoption, highlighting the need for further research, standardization, technological development, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Downloads

Não há dados estatísticos.

Referências

Amaechi, C. V., Beddu, S. B., Ja’e, I. A., Oyetunji, A. K., Salia, R. A., Oyewole, O. M., Ojedokun, O. O., & Huang, B. (2026). An overview of composites as construction materials for the development of sustainable structures. Materials Today Sustainability, 33, 101298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtsust.2025.101298 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtsust.2025.101298

Amran, M., Onaizi, A. M., Fediuk, R., Vatin, N. I., Muhammad Rashid, R. S., Abdelgader, H., & Ozbakkaloglu, T. (2022). Self-Healing Concrete as a Prospective Construction Material: A Review. Materials (Basel, Switzerland), 15(9), 3214. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15093214 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15093214

Ferrara, L., Cuenca Asensio, E., Lo Monte, F., Roig Flores, M., Sanchez Moreno, M., Snoeck, D., Van Mullem, T., & De Belie, N. (2018). Experimental characterization of the self-healing capacity of cement based materials: An overview. Proceedings, 2(8), 454. https://doi.org/10.3390/ICEM18-05322 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ICEM18-05322

Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Tookey, J., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Naismith, N., Azhar, S., Efimova, O., & Raahemifar, K. (2017). Building Information Modelling (BIM) uptake: Clear benefits, understanding its implementation, risks and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 75, 1046–1053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.083 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.083

Hassan, A., Anwar, S., & Ali, S. (2025). Nanotechnology in construction: Enhancing material strength, durability, and environmental sustainability. Journal of Development and Social Sciences, 6(1), 576–587. https://doi.org/10.47205/jdss.2025(6-I)50 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47205/jdss.2025(6-I)50

Janke, L., Czaderski, C., Motavalli, M., & Ruth, J. (2005). Applications of shape memory alloys in civil engineering structures—Overview, limits and new ideas. Materials and Structures, 38(5), 578–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02479550 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02479550

Lekhya, A., & Kumar, N. S. (2024). A study on the effective utilization of ultrafine fly ash and silica fume content in high-performance concrete through an experimental approach. Heliyon, 10(22), e39678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39678 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39678

Martínez Ángeles, H., Navarro Rubio, C. A., Ríos Moreno, J. G., Gonzalez-Garcia, I., Reyes Araiza, J. L., Garduño Aparicio, M., Chavero-Navarrete, E., & Trejo Perea, M. (2026). Smart materials employed in the construction industry: A systematic review of types, properties, applications, and sustainability performance. Materials, 19(12), 2676. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19122676 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19122676

Nasr, Y., El Zakhem, H., Hamami, A. E. A., El Bachawati, M., & Belarbi, R. (2023). Comprehensive review of innovative materials for sustainable buildings’ energy performance. Energies, 16(21), 7440. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16217440 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en16217440

Nilimaa, J. (2023). Smart materials and technologies for sustainable concrete construction. Developments in the Built Environment, 15, 100177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2023.100177 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2023.100177

Ramachandran, K., Vijayan, P., Murali, G., & Vatin, N. I. (2022). A Review on Principles, Theories and Materials for Self Sensing Concrete for Structural Applications. Materials (Basel, Switzerland), 15(11), 3831. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113831 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113831

Schwartz, M., & Lagerwall, J. P. F. (2022). Embedding intelligence in materials for responsive built environment: A topical review on liquid crystal elastomer actuators and sensors. Building and Environment, 226, 109714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109714 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109714

Wong, P. Y., Mal, J., Sandak, A., Luo, L., Jian, J., & Pradhan, N. (2024). Advances in microbial self-healing concrete: A critical review of mechanisms, developments, and future directions. The Science of the total environment, 947, 174553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174553 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174553

Zhang, J., Mohd Rasdi, M. T., Zainordin, N., & Qin, Y. (2026). A comprehensive review of advanced energy-efficient technologies for building envelopes: Focus on walls, windows, and roofs. Energy Reports, 15, 108981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2025.108981 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2025.108981

Zhou, D., Zhao, C. Y., & Tian, Y. (2012). Review on thermal energy storage with phase change materials (PCMs) in building applications. Applied Energy, 92, 593–605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.08.025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.08.025

Publicado

2026-09-01

Como Citar

Ghorbani, M. J., & Sattarzadeh, D. (2026). Smart and renewable building materials for sustainable architecture: properties, applications, challenges, future perspectives, systematic review. Revista Transdiciplinaria De Estudios Sociales Y Tecnológicos, 6(3), 106–116. https://doi.org/10.58594/rtest.v6i3.237