Within the context of the ever-growing need for sustainable building materials poses great challenges for researchers, the outlook that an entire twenty storey concrete building that can store energy like a giant battery could be a great sign.
Doctor Emma Zhang, joined Professor Luping Tang's research group several years ago to search for the building materials of the future. Together they have now succeeded in developing a world-first concept for a rechargeable cement-based battery.
Zhang and her colleague Luping Tang started with a cement-based mixture. To it, they add carbon fibers that make the material tough and conductive. Then they embedded electrodes in the material: one electrode is made of a metal-coated carbon-fiber mesh with iron for the anode and the other with a nickel-coated mesh.
The idea is still at a very early stage, but this innovation has a lot to offer. “We are convinced this concept makes for a great contribution to allowing future building materials to have additional functions such as renewable energy sources,” concludes Luping Tang.
