{"id":61685,"date":"2020-08-17T02:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T00:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=61685"},"modified":"2020-08-16T09:14:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T07:14:17","slug":"storing-energy-in-red-bricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/science\/storing-energy-in-red-bricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Storing energy in red bricks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine plugging in to your brick house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red bricks \u2014 some of the world\u2019s cheapest and most familiar building materials \u2014 can be converted into energy storage units that can be charged to hold electricity, like a battery, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brick has been used in walls and buildings for thousands of years, but rarely has been found fit for any other use. Now, chemists in Arts & Sciences have developed a method to make or modify \u201csmart bricks\u201d that can store energy until required for powering devices. A proof-of-concept published Aug. 11 in Nature Communications<\/a> (and pictured below) shows a brick directly powering a green LED light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur method works with regular brick or recycled bricks, and we can make our own bricks as well,\u201d said Julio D\u2019Arcy<\/a>, assistant professor of chemistry. \u201cAs a matter of fact, the work that we have published in Nature Communications stems from bricks that we bought at Home Depot right here in Brentwood (Missouri); each brick was 65 cents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walls and buildings made of bricks already occupy large amounts of space, which could be better utilized if given an additional purpose for electrical storage. While some architects and designers have recognized the humble brick\u2019s ability to absorb and store the sun\u2019s heat, this is the first time anyone has tried using bricks as anything more than thermal mass for heating and cooling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Arcy and colleagues, including Washington University graduate student Hongmin Wang, first author of the new study, showed how to convert red bricks into a type of energy storage device called a supercapacitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this work, we have developed a coating of the conducting polymer PEDOT, which is comprised of nanofibers that penetrate the inner porous network of a brick; a polymer coating remains trapped in a brick and serves as an ion sponge that stores and conducts electricity,\u201d D\u2019Arcy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The red pigment in bricks \u2014 iron oxide, or rust \u2014 is essential for triggering the polymerisation reaction. The authors\u2019 calculations suggest that walls made of these energy-storing bricks could store a substantial amount of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPEDOT-coated bricks are ideal building blocks that can provide power to emergency lighting,\u201d D\u2019Arcy said. \u201cWe envision that this could be a reality when you connect our bricks with solar cells \u2014 this could take 50 bricks in close proximity to the load. These 50 bricks would enable powering emergency lighting for five hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdvantageously, a brick wall serving as a supercapacitor can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times within an hour. If you connect a couple of bricks, microelectronics sensors would be easily powered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Source<\/h5>\r\n\n\n\n

Washington University in St. Louis | Talia Ogliore 2020<\/a><\/p>\n

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