MIT engineers create energy-storing cement mixture

A paper was published on the last day of July, by a team of MIT researchers, regarding the creation of a cement and carbon black based material which acts as a supercapacitor while being structurally sound.

The team envisions this material to be used in house foundations, or concrete roads.

Furthermore, it was found how when cement and a very fine charcoal like material, carbon black, are mixed with water can create a battery like substance, called a supercapacitor.

This process involves cement reacting with water, while the hydrophobic carbon nanoparticles are self-assembling into a connected conductive wire, Professor Admir Masic says. The final product is then soaked in an electrolyte and acts as a battery.

Several tests were conducted for the ideal mixture ratios to be determined, and it was found that as little a 3% of carbon black is enough for the material to be effective.

Regarding the process demonstration, three 1-volt button like batteries were created, which were one centimeter wide and one millimeter thick, and could power up an LED light when added together.

It was also found that about 45 cubic meters of the material could be used to store 10 KWh of energy, which is the equivalent of a house’s average daily need.

However, it was also observed that there was a tradeoff between structural strength and carbon black content, which would lead to more storage capacity. It was proposed that a 10% content would be the sweet spot between strength and storage capacity, but different mixtures could be used in different applications.

This new material could turn out to be a game changer in renewable energy storage, as it has the main advantage of using cheap and widely available raw materials.