Cement-Based Rechargeable Battery — A Step Towards Mitigating Global Energy Crisis
Visualize a 20-storeyed battery. You might think me crazy, but this vision might come true shortly.
The term ‘concrete jungle’ has often been used negatively to imply the depletion of trees and natural habitats. But soon, the concrete jungles might get their due recognition for effectively battling the potential energy crisis that future generations might face. The scientists associated with the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a concept that might help bring this vision to fruition.
Imagine a multi-storeyed concrete edifice storing energy like a giant battery. Too good to be true, right? Not actually. This vision might materialize shortly as Dr. Emma Zhang, Senior Development Scientist at Delta of Sweden (formerly of the Chalmers University of Technology) and Luping Tang, Professor at the Chalmers University of Technology, have built a prototype of a rechargeable battery — made of cement. The Swedish Energy Agency sponsored the research.
There was a layered approach to this concept that led to a successful outcome of this experiment. Firstly, small amounts of short carbon fibers were added to a cement mixture to increase conductivity, along with flexural toughness. Then, a metal-coated carbon-fiber mesh was planted within the blend, with iron and nickel as anode and cathode, respectively. Previous experiments with cement battery technology showed low efficiency. Therefore the team had to come up with an out-of-the-box solution this time.
The escalating need for sustainable development has led to this experimentation, which is presently available in a proof-of-concept model. “Results from earlier studies investigating concrete battery technology showed very low performance, so we realized we had to think out of the box, to come up with another way to produce the electrode. This particular idea that we have developed — which is also rechargeable — has never been explored before. Now we have proof of concept at lab scale,” Emma Zhang explains. The research model has an average energy density of 7 Watthours per square meter, equivalent to 0.8 Watthours per liter. Average Energy Density is a metric that is used to measure the capacity of batteries. At 7 Watthours per square meter, the experiment model is approximately 10 times powerful than its predecessors but still lagging behind its commercial counterparts. However, since this can be used in constructing buildings, the considerable high volume of the material, in totality, can help compensate for the low power.
“We have a vision that in the future, this technology could allow for whole sections of multi-story buildings made of functional concrete. Considering that any concrete surface could have a layer of this electrode embedded, we are talking about enormous volumes of functional concrete.”, added Emma. Apart from utilizing it for energy storage, there are other varied applications of this technology ranging from powering 4G connections to powering LEDs. It can also be used in cathodic protection, which is a technique of preventing metal corrosion by making it the cathodic side of an electrochemical cell. Coupling this experiment with solar cell panels can further open up a wide array of applications. It would turn it into a source of energy that can also be used to monitor bridges and highways.
Although the experiment has shown promising results, few prevailing challenges need to be alleviated before taking it forward for commercialization. The major one is finding a way to extend the battery’s service life or recycle it after it has reached the end of life. Since concrete buildings are made to last for fifty or even a hundred years, the age of the battery should match up to it or at least be rejuvenated periodically. Dr. Emma Zhang and Professor Lupin Tang have their undivided attention to overcome the looming challenges as early as possible and amplify this research commercially into a real-world product.
What do you think about this revolutionary research? Please let me know your views in the comment section, or I am all ears at samiran_banerjee@outlook.com.
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