To promote sustainable road construction and reduce harmful emissions during asphalt paving, a green bio-based adsorbent was developed by activating tea-stalk-derived biochar (TB) using phytic acid, a biodegradable plant-derived organophosphate. This activation introduced a multiple adsorption mechanism that integrates physical adsorption, chemical interactions, and catalytic transformation. The results show that phytic acid significantly increased the specific surface area and micropore volume of TB, facilitated the development of graphitic structures to enhance π–π interactions with aromatic hydrocarbons, and incorporated phosphorus-containing functional groups that enabled chemical bonding and catalytic conversion. At only 0.5% dosage, the activated biochar (PTB) achieved a 64.2% reduction in VOCs and a 93.1% for H₂S, both exceeding the higher dosage of 2% TB (58.6% and 85.4%, respectively). GC-MS results confirmed that, under the influence of multiple adsorption mechanisms, PTB exhibited higher suppression efficiency across all categories of asphalt fume components, particularly for highly hazardous compounds such as benzene derivatives, alkenes, thiophenes, and ketones. This biochar-based approach offers a sustainable pathway for reducing asphalt-related air pollution during road construction, thereby supporting cleaner transport infrastructure and contributing to improved urban air quality.

Asphalt fumes not only cause environmental pollution but also accelerate binder aging. In this study, tannic acid (TA) was employed to activate biochar, endowing it with dual functions in fume suppression and anti-aging. The TA-activated biochar (TB) possessed a more developed microporous structure, larger surface area, and abundant polyphenolic groups with free radical scavenging ability, resulting in enhanced adsorption and antioxidation capacity. Fume tests revealed that incorporating TB reduced the concentrations of VOCs and H₂S by 58.2% and 96.1%, respectively, while the ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol potential (SOAP) decreased by 69.2% and 65.8%. After TFOT and UV aging, TB-modified asphalt exhibited excellent aging resistance, with more than a 50% reduction in softening-point increment and viscosity aging index, and ductility retention after aging was significantly improved. Improvements in rutting factor, low-temperature flexibility, and stress-relaxation capability further confirmed enhanced performance across the service temperature range. This work provides a sustainable approach to developing low-emission, aging-resistant asphalt pavements via enhanced adsorption-antiaging synergy in biochar.

Despite biochar has a good ability in suppressing asphalt fumes, the relationship between the structure of biochar derived from different plant sources and its performance in adsorbing fumes has not yet been explored. In this study, biochar with varying structures and compositions was prepared from cellulose-rich (tea stalks and poplar sawdust) and lignin-rich (coconut shell fiber and loofah sponge) biomass and used as asphalt fume suppressants. Structural characterization revealed that all biochar developed abundant pore structures. Specifically, cellulose-rich biochar featured macro-/mesoporous structures with relatively oxygen-rich surfaces, while lignin-rich biochar exhibited micro-/mesoporous structures with enhanced π-conjugated graphitic frameworks. Asphalt fume adsorption tests showed that, cellulose-based biochar was more effective in adsorbing H₂S and NOₓ, whereas lignin-rich biochar exhibited superior adsorption of VOCs. GC-MS analysis confirmed that cellulose-rich biochar facilitates the adsorption of polar pollutants due to its higher oxygen-rich surfaces, while lignin-rich biochar enhances the adsorption of aromatic pollutants through π–π interactions. Physical property tests of asphalt showed that the macropores of cellulose-rich biochar absorbed more light fractions and promoted an increase in asphaltenes content, significantly enhancing high-temperature performance but having an adverse effect on asphalt ductility.

Asphalt fumes released at high temperatures significantly impact human health and the natural environment. This study systematically investigated the microstructure and compositional characteristics of tea stalk biochar (TB) from pyrolysis at different temperatures (300℃, 400℃, 500℃, and 600℃) and its adsorption capacity for asphalt fumes. Scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis indicated that increasing pyrolysis temperatures enhanced the porosity and BET surface area of TB, transitioning its structure from dense and low-porosity to highly porous. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analysis revealed that higher temperatures promoted biochar graphitization, reduced oxygen-containing functional groups, and increased hydrophobicity and aromaticity. Analysis of asphalt fumes demonstrated that adding 1 % TB significantly reduced asphalt fume emissions, including VOCs, H₂S, SO₂, and NOₓ. TB prepared at 500℃ (500TB) exhibited optimal adsorption, reducing VOCs by 68.6 % and H₂S by 87.5 %. GC-MS analysis further revealed that 1 % 500TB reduced aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic compounds, oxygen-containing compounds, and sulfur-containing compounds in asphalt VOCs by 63 %, 69 %, 67.2 %, and 63.3 %, respectively. The superior adsorption performance of 500TB was attributed to its larger surface area, diverse mesoporous structure, and high aromatic carbon content, enhancing its affinity for pollutants. Physical tests indicated that biochar enhances the thermal stability and deformation resistance of asphalt by increasing its softening point, viscosity, and penetration index, while maintaining acceptable ductility. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of TB for mitigating asphalt fume emissions.

Self-healing is a biological phenomenon in which living organism responds to the suffered damage in a complex way. Inspired by the self-healing phenomenon in nature, various biomimetic healing methods rooted in intrinsic or extrinsic healing mechanisms have been explored. Research on novel self-healing asphalt materials with intelligent response is at the cutting-edge of materials science and offers a potential strategy for building long-life and low-carbon asphalt concrete infrastructure. This paper describes the progress of research on extrinsic self-healing asphalt materials and makes a clear distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic self-healing. The asphalt self-healing mechanism is interpreted by capillary flow theory, phase field theory, molecular diffusion theory and surface energy theory form various perspective. The extrinsic self-healing strategies including thermal induced healing and rejuvenator induced healing are proposed to enhance the healing level of cracked asphalt materials. A brief review of the methods including fracture-healing test and fatigue-healing test for assessing the efficacy of different extrinsic healing methods is presented. The thermal induced healing method bring high crack repair efficiency for asphalt concrete and the rejuvenator induced healing strategy not only improve the healing ratio of cracked asphalt concrete but also regenerate the ageing asphalt in situ. Important lessons for prospective research on the creation of novel self-healing asphalt materials are highlighted.

Polymer Ca-alginate capsules with rejuvenator bring a high healing level for asphalt concrete under dry healing environments; however, the healing levels of bituminous mixtures containing capsules under water healing conditions are still unknown. In view of this, this study aimed at exploring the healing levels of asphalt concrete containing polymer capsules under various solution healing conditions following cyclic loads. This study involved the preparation of capsules, followed by the evaluation of their morphological characteristics, resilience to compression, thermal endurance, and rejuvenator content. The assessment of the healing properties of asphalt concrete utilizing capsules was conducted through a fracture–heal–refracture examination. This study conducted Fourier transform infrared spectrum experiments to determine the rejuvenator release ratio of capsules under dry conditions and the remaining rejuvenator content in extracted bituminous binder from capsule–asphalt concrete after solution treatment. Meanwhile, a dynamic shear rheometer was utilized to investigate the rheological characteristics of asphalt binder. Results revealed that the healing ratios of capsule–asphalt concrete beams under a dry healing environment were significantly higher than that of beams under various solution healing conditions, and the alkali solution has the worst effect on the improvement in healing ratio. The coupled impact of moisture intrusion and ion erosion resulted in an enhancement of complex modulus of asphalt binder while concurrently reducing its phase angle. Consequently, the restorative capacity of the asphalt binder was weakened.

In this paper, steel slag/steel fiber composite asphalt mixture were prepared. The effects of the addition of steel slag and/or steel fibers on the mechanical, thermal, induction heating and healing properties of asphalt mixture were investigated. The results showed that adding steel slag and/or steel fibers improves the water stability, particle loss resistance and fracture energy of asphalt mixtures. The addition of steel fibers increased the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusion of the asphalt mixture, and steel slag showed a reverse effect. Steel slag asphalt mixture cooled more slowly than steel fiber asphalt mixture, which is beneficial to crack healing of asphalt mixture. The composite of steel fibers and steel slag can enhance the induction heating speed, heating homogeneity and thus enhance the induction healing ratio of asphalt mixture. It is concluded that steel slag/steel fibers composite asphalt mixture achieves good mechanical and induction healing properties.

In this paper, the flow behaviors of asphalt binders were investigated through DSR viscosity-frequency sweep test to find out their potential optimal self-healing temperatures and the real self-healing ratios of the binders at different temperatures were measured through fatigue-healing-fatigue test to confirm the optimal self-healing temperatures. The healing time of asphalt binders needed for full healing was studied as well. It is found that both fresh and aged Pen bitumen binders show near-Newtonian fluid state at their softening point temperatures, at which asphalt binders showed optimal self-healing properties to heal fatigue damage. It is also found that ageing of the binder increases its optimal self-healing temperature. It means that the optimal temperatures of asphalt binders are associated to the bitumen type and ageing. Finally, the Wool and O's Connor model can be used to determine the healing time needed by asphalt binder to achieve full healing, where the accumulated dissipated energy recovery is recommend as a suitable healing index.