What
if the energy powering your home or office could be generated, stored and used
all in the same place? This is the hope for the next generation of buildings,
powered by renewable sources with energy stored nearby—possibly even within the
concrete used to construct the building itself. Reporting in ACS Nano, researchers have developed an
efficient, energy-storing cement supercapacitor that holds up as well as commercial concrete in
tests.
Supercapacitors store relatively small
amounts of energy, but they take in and release that energy rapidly and for
millions of cycles in some cases. So, by incorporating these devices directly
into building materials like cement, researchers are hoping that energy
generated near the building (by solar panels, for example) could be stored
inside the structure, rather than in bulky batteries on the roof or in a
utility room.
"If renewable energy is available
to recharge [the supercapacitors] frequently enough, they could meet some
energy needs through repeated charging and discharging," says Zhong, the
corresponding author of the study.
Zhong and colleagues Wencai Ren and
Haiping Wu first mixed carbon nanotubes, carbon black and cement to form a
printable electrode ink. Then, using a 3D printer, they deposited the ink onto
a small concrete slab in a pattern resembling interlocked fingers.
As
the cement within the slab was hydrated, its pores filled with water and ions
that easily traveled between the electrodes. And as this design shortened the
distance charged ions had to travel, the overall supercapacitor was more
efficient than previous iterations.
Tests revealed that the cement-based
supercapacitor had a compressive strength comparable to commercial concrete
used in slabs and stairs. Three devices printed on the same slab and wired
together also powered a small array of LEDs. In the future, the supercapacitors
could power everything from emergency lighting to self-powered sensors.
Finally, the team discovered that the
new supercapacitor operated stably under moderate heating and cooling, but at
around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius), its performance started
to wane. Future research will focus on fortifying the supercapacitors in
cold-weather conditions.
Zhong explains that "if building materials could not only support structures but also store energy, sense their surroundings and even interact with people, buildings would become more than passive shelters. They could become truly smart environments."
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