Clay nanostructures in geotechnical engineering: A critical review of mechanisms, performance, and sustainable soil stabilization

作者：Amira S. Diab, Ahmed A. Allam, Hassan A. Rudayni, Khaled M. Abdelfadil, Hasan Arman, Wail Al Zoubi, Mostafa R. Abukhadra · 发表于：Materials Today Sustainability · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.mtsust.2025.101284 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Soil and Unsaturated Flow、Landfill Environmental Impact Studies、Concrete and Cement Materials Research

The growing demand for resilient and low-carbon geotechnical infrastructure has intensified interest in clay-based nanostructures as next-generation soil stabilizers. Although many studies have examined individual nanoclays or specific stabilization outcomes, a unified multi-scale synthesis linking nanostructure geometry (0D, 1D, 2D), micro-mechanisms, and engineering performance remains largely absent. This review addresses this gap by evaluating allophane-type 0D nanoparticles, halloysite nanotubes and fibrous silicates (1D), and layered nanosheets of kaolinite, illite, and smectite (2D), emphasizing how their morphologies govern pozzolanic activity, electrostatic flocculation, double-layer modification, and microstructural densification. Microstructural evidence (SEM/TEM, XRD, MIP) shows that 0D nanoclays accelerate nucleation, 1D nanotubes enhance crack-bridging and fabric interlocking, and 2D nanosheets yield the strongest improvements in stiffness, compressibility, and hydraulic resistance. Hybrid nanoclay–SCM–polymer systems exhibit strong synergistic effects, enabling superior performance at low dosages (0.1–2 %) and reducing cement demand and carbon emissions, though nanoclay-specific LCAs and long-term field validations remain limited. Despite promising results, challenges persist regarding dispersion quality, natural compositional variability, and the lack of standardized mix-design or quantitative dispersion metrics. Advancing this field requires improved dispersi...