Recent Advances on the Application of Layered Double Hydroxides in Concrete—A Review

The issue of chloride induced corrosion of reinforced concrete is a serious problem affecting infrastructure globally and causing huge economic losses. As such this issue has gained a considerable attention in the scientific community in the recent past. Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs) have recently emerged as a new class of concrete-additives with a potential to increase the chloride resistance of concrete and mitigate corrosion. LDHs are clay like structures consisting of positively charged layers of cations with associated hydroxides and exchangeable anions in between the layers. Due to this charge balanced structure, LDHs possess the property of encapsulating an anion from the environment and replacing it with an exchangeable anion present in its layers. Potential applications include chloride entrapment in concrete and delivery of corrosion inhibiting anions. However, many versatile compositions of LDHs can be easily synthesized and their application as cement additives reach far beyond corrosion mitigation in concrete. This review presents a summary of recent advances on the applications of LDH in concrete. An extensive set of recently published literature has been critically reviewed and trends have been identified.