But that was not the only part of construction and concrete work that attracted us. This is an exciting time for advances in innovative building materials. Have you heard of these building materials currently in research and development?
Self-Healing Concrete and Asphalt
You read correctly. Researchers are working on concrete that hides the healing ingredient when it starts to crack. The fabric soaks into the crack, fills it, and then hardens after reacting with concrete compounds or moisture and carbon dioxide in the air.
Work is excellent on asphalt. A great way is to add steel wool fibers to an asphalt mix. This technique allows the asphalt to conduct electricity, and cracks contribute to the induction heating. Several techniques are efficient.
Innovative Building Materials Transparent Wood
The visible board has the potential to replace glass in windows, solar panels, and other areas. In addition, it offers a good alternative that is less easily affected by cracks, fissures, and other damage. The production of this material in the future involves the chemical removal of wood veneer with a compound called lignin.
Lignin contributes to wood’s strength and toughness and gives it its color. To make the wood transparent, after removing the lignin, a colorless polymer called polymethylmethacrylate (known as Lucite and Plexiglas) is added to allow the material to solidify again, allowing better light to pass through.

Solar Cells that Generate Power from Rain
It’s an exciting prospect, but the furthest on our list comes from being practical enough to implement. The idea of an all-weather solar cell is, of course, appealing. Scientists could generate a small amount of electricity as saltwater rolled around solar cells using a super-thin layer of graphene, a highly conductive material.
However, graphene is expensive, and the process is based on more salt than naturally in rainwater. In addition, this process currently produces only a fraction of the voltage produced by AA batteries and has shallow energy conversion. However, researchers remain optimistic, and our endless capacity for creative problem-solving will ultimately make solar panels a reality in any weather.
Source: TrekkerGroup