Civil infrastructure is built predominantly of steel-reinforced concrete components, rapidly deteriorating in severe operation conditions worldwide¹. I emphasize the increasing need to improve structures’ performance, reflecting the challenge for conventional materials to outperform in a continuously changing environment, along with the sectors’ hesitation to employ synergetic concepts or novel materials.

For instance, the synergy of electrochemistry and concrete material science is the only viable approach to assess the corrosion state of steel or to control steel corrosion in civil structures. Next, nano-technology applications are still rare in construction^2-4, which would otherwise break new grounds for both science and practice.

In a recent approach^5-7 to control steel corrosion in reinforced concrete, polymeric nano-carriers, otherwise used in medical or bio-technological applications^8-10, were employed, targeting localized treatment. The presence of minuscule amounts of these nano-carriers, and their transformation, governed by reactions of chemical and electrochemical nature, awakened the main objective of corrosion (and degradation, respectively) control.

This contribution presents the concept of self-healing of corrosion damage in reinforced concrete, highlights its main outcomes, and outlines future perspectives on applications, employed to tailor-made corrosion control for reinforced concrete, modified by nano-carries.

¹Fürbeth W., Schütze M., Materials and Corrosion, 60, 481 (2009)

²Schmidt M., Fehling E., Glotzbach C., Fronlich S., Pitrowski S., Ultra-high performance concrete and Nanotechnology in construction, Kassel University press GmbH, ISBN 978-3-86219-264-9 (2012)

³Sobolev K. et al, Bibliography on application of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in concrete, PCA Library Bibliography No. 37, LB37 (2008)

⁴van Broekhuizen F., et al., Zusammenfassung, im Auftrag von: FIEC EFBH: IVAM UvA BV (2009)

⁵ Hu J., Koleva D.A., Ma Y., Schlangen E., van Breugel, K., Early age hydration, microstructure and micromechanical properties of cement paste modified with polymeric vesicles. Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology, 11(11), 291-300 (2013)

⁶Koleva, DA, Denkova, AG, Boshkov, N & Breugel, K van, Electrochemical performance of steel in cement extract and bulk matrix properties of cement paste in the presence of pluronic 123 micelles, Journal of Materials Science, 48(6), 2490-2503 (2013)

⁷Hu, J, Koleva, DA, Ma, Y, Schlangen, E, Petrov, P & Breugel, K van, The influence of admixed micelles on the microstructural properties and global performance of cement-based materials. Cement and Concrete Research, 42(8), 1122-1133 (2012)

⁸Wang G., de Kruijff RM, Abou D, Ramos N, Mendes E, Franken LE, Wolterbeek HT, Denkova AG, Pharmacokinetics of Polymersomes Composed of Poly (Butadiene-Ethylene Oxide); Healthy versus Tumor-Bearing Mice, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology 12, 2, 320-328 (2016)

⁹Laan A.C., Santini C., Jennings L., De Jong M., Bernsen M.R., Denkova A.G., Radiolabeling polymeric micelles for in vivo evaluation: a novel, fast, and facile method, EJNMMI research, 6, 1, 12, (2016)

¹⁰Liechty W.B., Kryscio D.R., Slaughter B.V., Peppas N.A., Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 1, 149–173 (2010)