We always conceptualize the size of a battery as something as small as a button to the bigger one on trucks that are no more than a large suitcase. But what about a battery that is made of concrete and 20 stories high. Yes, a giant rechargeable cement battery has been built that is indeed a building. Researchers from the Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology believe that we are not far away from this reality.
Researchers of the Architecture and Civil Engineering department published a new radical concept for batteries. Something that is prepared from cement and inside which is on a scale not imaginable in the past.
Researchers have always been vexed by the need for new types of building materials. Dr. Emma Zhang the university teamed up with the research group of Prof. Luping Tang a few years ago in search of new building material. And their research has thrown up a rechargeable battery that is made of cement and gigantic in scale. It is still in the theoretical stage.
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A Rechargeable Cement Battery That
Based primarily on cement, this conceptual battery has minor amounts of carbon fibers that are added to impart flexural toughness and conductivity. Placed within the blend is a unique metal-coated fiber mesh of carbon. The iron is there as the nickel and anode are for the cathode. This final concept came through after much research by the team.
Dr. Zhang said that previous experiments involving rechargeable cement batteries had produced imperfect results. So they had to brainstorm and have finally thought up a radically different way to manufacture the electrode. There are sure that this unique concept is workable.
The rechargeable cement battery produced by Prof. Tang and Dr. Zhang has a normal energy density that is 7 watt-hours per sq. meters. That comes to 0.8 watt-hours a liter. Energy density is the amount of energy that is stored in a given substance, system, or region of space per unit volume.
Even modest estimates have put the batteries 10 times more powerful than every other previous prototype of a rechargeable cement battery. While the concrete battery’s energy density compares unfavorably with conventional batteries in use for commercial purposes, the potential size of a rechargeable concept battery could offset that shortcoming.
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A Rechargeable Energy Battery Could Be The Key To Future Energy Storage Solutions
The biggest advantage of this cement battery is that it is rechargeable. The potential uses are astounding. It would be possible to both store huge volumes of energy and monitor it at the same time. The ranges include powering LED and 4G connections, especially in areas that have no conventional power source. These batteries can also provide cathodic protection to mitigate corrosion in conventional concrete infrastructure.
Though still in its conceptual stage, the technology, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, is ripe for commercial usage. The researchers are confident that in the future, the fusion of renewable energy resources and building materials is a reality.
