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Energy storage is the holy grail of decarbonization. If we want to get rid of fossil fuels for
good, we need to be able store a large amount of surplus renewables over time. The current
technologies available, like lithium-ion batteries, may not have enough capacity to meet our power
storage demand in the future. But what if we could turn our houses and buildings themselves
into batteries? I'm Matt Ferrell ... welcome to Undecided. While the price of renewables keeps falling,
we still waste too much of it. That’s because we don't have enough space to store the surplus
clean energy when we don’t need it, so that we can reuse it when sunshine and wind are
nowhere to be seen. The only way to shift renewables around is to rely on large-scale
storage systems. It's for that reason that grid operators are throwing billions of dollars
at lithium-ion batteries, which have high energy density and are the most *ready-to-store*
technology available today. In the US alone, installations are expected to increase 100
times by 2030. However, lithium is 2,000 times less abundant than other metals, like Iron
for instance, which makes it expensive. Although lithium-ion batteries have become much cheaper
over the last decade, some experts think we're going to struggle to make drastic improvements
in terms of cost, energy density and charging speed as that trend has slowed. Another drawback
of lithium-ion battery packs is that, as they go through charging and recharging cycles,
their capacity degrades over time. For all those reasons, it’s wise to look
for feasible alternatives. For example, what if I told you you could *cement* power into
your home? Researchers from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden recently developed
a prototype for a rechargeable cement-based battery. With an average energy density of
7 Watt Hours per square meter (or ca. 0.7 Watt Hours per square feet), the device held
10x more power than the cement batteries produced in the past. Not to mention it’s the world’s
first rechargeable cement-based battery ever proved at lab-scale. The Chalmers researchers’ original idea
was to integrate their concrete batteries into rooftop PV to store the surplus solar
energy. However, the potential of this invention is its storage capacity scale-up. That’s
because you could incorporate this functional concrete into the structure of multi-story
buildings to store large volumes of energy. Think of a skyscraper like the Burj Khalifa
in Dubai. That will turn into the biggest battery on the planet. Which is crazy. To
add to that, with concrete batteries you could hit two birds with one *stone* since it's
both a construction material and an energy storage unit, which could be cheaper overall.
I wonder if you could plug your smartphone straight into one of your floor tiles? So, why cement? Concrete is not a sustainable
material by itself, as its production is responsible for 2.4% of the global CO2 emissions. However,
while more eco-friendly construction materials are *mushrooming like fungus* , or shooting
up towards the sky like bamboo, we won’t get rid of cement so easily. Being second
to water only, concrete is the most consumed material on Earth. In construction, we use
twice as much concrete as all other building materials combined. That’s mostly because
of its strength and durability. To add to that, some companies are developing carbon
capture systems to trap the CO2 released when making concrete. This could decarbonize the
cement production process and make concrete greener ... while not completely green. Perhaps
I should build on that in a separate video. In the meantime, why not make the most out
of *grey concrete* and turn cement structures into huge power banks? But how would that
work? Let’s look at how this concrete battery is actually made... The design is inspired by the battery invented
by Thomas Edison 120 years ago. In the device, you have ions moving through an electrolyte
solution between a positively charged nickel cathode and a negatively charged iron anode.
The ions motion then generates an electrical potential. The main difference compared to
the Edison model is that Swedish scientists used cement mortar as the electrolyte. But
they also thought outside of the *concrete* box, tweaking previous similar models. To
make the cement slurry more conductive, researchers spiked it with short carbon fibers. Scientists
also used an ion exchange resin as a separator between the two electrodes. This porous membrane
makes it easy for ions to move from one pole to the other, which increases the ionic conductivity.
On top of that, they applied an alternative method for adding the metallic electrodes
to the cement paste. Based on the conventional technique, you would just mix metallic powder
particles with the cement slurry. But this isn't exactly that safe, especially when you
use Nickel. Instead, they coated nickel and iron onto carbon mesh layers and then slid
them into the cement-based mix to work as electrode plates. Using this approach, researchers
achieved a better electrical performance, reaching an energy density 10 times higher
than what they hit when using the traditional powder mixing technique. During charging and
recharging cycles, both metals go through reversible electrochemical processes, the
so-called redox reactions, which is what makes the device rechargeable. Now, I can hear you already. Will my house
electrocute me? I think it’s pretty unlikely as you’d be in contact with cement, which
is a poor conductor by itself. This means it will isolate your fingers from the electricity
safely stored inside the battery. Turning our houses into giant batteries is
*electrifying* but it’s not just about energy storage. There are a number of other applications
to consider for these devices. Before I get to that I'd like to thank Native
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the description and thanks to Native and to all of you for supporting the channel. So
back to some of the other applications. According to the study’s authors, concrete
batteries could be coupled with solar cell panels to provide electricity and act as a
monitoring system. This could be a great use case for highways or bridges, where battery-powered
sensors would detect any cracks or sign of corrosion before it’s too late. Another
study engineered a battery made of cement and seawater to monitor the corrosion of marine
infrastructure. Other than being prompt corrosion wardens, building-embedded batteries could
play a key role in the development of future smart cities by powering automated street
LED lighting and IoT-enabled sensors. In their lab test, the Chalmers group used one of their
devices to light a small LED lamp for several hours. Another interesting idea would be to
use the concrete batteries to provide high speed wifi connections for structures in remote
areas. Besides the Swedish brainiacs, someone else
contributed to *cement this idea*. 3 years ago another research group from the Lancaster
University in the UK had developed a cement battery. In this case, the secret recipe was
a mix of waste flyash and a potassium-based alkaline solution to conduct electricity.
This alternative cement design doesn’t contain expensive materials like graphene or carbon
nanotubes and is cheaper to make than traditional Portland cement. Although the composition
is different from the Chalmers product, the British innovation can also build another
powerful brick in your wall. This low-cost cement can store and deliver
up to 500 W per square meter (ca. 46.5 W per square feet). To have some perspective, one
of the study’s authors claimed a six-meter tall lamppost made from this material could
*shine of its own renewable light* through the night. Also, just like the Swedish concrete
battery, this device could be used for monitoring applications. For instance, you could build
smart curb stones that power sensors for checking traffic and air pollution. On top of that,
any cracks or structural stresses would change the way potassium ions move through the material,
which would give a heads up for maintenance without installing additional sensors. That sounds *edifying* right? But there are
some concrete challenges to overcome. First of all, the building battery has got a level
of energy density which is lower than the ground floor. A square meter (ca. 11 square
feet) of the material surface would host as much energy as 2 AA batteries. To give a sense
of scale, one of the study’s authors claimed 200 square meters of the rechargeable concrete
can supply only around 8% of the electricity consumed by a typical U.S. home in a day.
When you compare it to lithium-ion batteries, the functional concrete’s energy density
is over 400 times lower. <sup>,</sup> But how long will it last? The prototype is
supposed to have an extended lifespan as it’s based on long-lasting Edison batteries that
can work for many years. The authors tout that their battery can resist overcharging
and you can abuse it as much as you want without affecting its performance. However, the Swedish
study tested the performance of the device only over six charge/discharge cycles. But
the cyclic capacity of the device will have to be validated over a higher number of cycles
to ensure a reliable power storage over time. Plus, concrete buildings are designed to last
up to a hundreds of years. So, technology improvements should either significantly extend
the duration of the battery or make them easier to exchange or recycle once they become exhausted.
And, of course, we should consider the actual cost of this storage technology, which hasn't
been assessed yet. As admitted by the scientists themselves, their design is a good distance
away from today’s rechargeable batteries. As for the British competitor, the researchers
have been optimizing the material composition. Also, they’re trying to 3D print their smart
cement to mould it into different shapes. This could drive the production cost further
down and bring new applications to light. Considering the technology has just taken
off from the starting blocks, the devices can be significantly optimized in the near
future. While there’s nothing set *in cement* at the moment, storing clean electricity in
our houses and buildings would reduce their carbon footprint. And remember that, although
current concrete batteries have a much lower energy density than commercial ones, we would
compensate for that by incorporating tons of them in our high-rise buildings. And volume
matters, at least in this case. At this stage, this doesn't feel like a replacement for any
of the technologies currently available today, but it could be a great add-on. But what do you think? Sound too good to be
true? Do you think alternative battery technologies like this have a shot? Jump into the comments
and let me know. And thanks as always to all of my patrons. Your direct support really
helps with producing these videos. Speaking of which, if you liked this video be sure
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