Big breakthrough, cement and carbon black can be made into new supercapacitors

On October 12, the latest research results from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed that cement and carbon black, two common materials with a long history, may become the basic materials of a new and low-cost energy storage system. The discovery has attracted great interest from the scientific community, because the new supercapacitor is expected to revolutionize the way renewable energy is stored, including solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy.

A paper related to the research results was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, detailing their research results. By injecting carbon black into cement, researchers have created a unique conductive nanostructure composite that can be used to make this new supercapacitor. The supercapacitor can store electricity in the concrete foundation of a house and be used to store electricity generated every day by solar panels or windmills. In addition, the researchers also envision possible future construction of concrete roads to provide contactless charging capabilities for electric vehicles.

The energy storage capacity of this capacitor depends on the total surface area of its conductive plates. The key to the new supercapacitor developed by the research team is to produce a solid cement material with a high internal surface area that contains a dense, interconnected network of conductive carbon black. The researchers mixed highly conductive carbon black with cement powder and cured it to form this unique material.

According to the research team's calculations, a 45-cubic meter concrete block containing nanocarbon black is enough to store about 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is usually enough to meet the average daily electricity demand of a household. Because this concrete still retains a certain strength, it can be used to store electricity generated by solar panels or wind turbines in a day, and can be charged and discharged quickly, making it ideal for storing intermittent electricity.

This technology not only has great potential for engineering innovation, but also provides strong support for the transformation of traditional energy sources to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and tidal energy. Given the instability of power output from renewable sources, effective energy storage solutions are crucial to ensuring a reliable power supply.