by WalterSobchak on 8/1/23, 1:11 AM with 90 comments
by labster on 8/1/23, 4:36 AM
by keepamovin on 8/1/23, 6:46 AM
The team calculated that a block of nanocarbon-black-doped concrete that is 45 cubic meters (or yards) in size — equivalent to a cube about 3.5 meters across — would have enough capacity to store about 10 kilowatt-hours of energy, which is considered the average daily electricity usage for a household. Since the concrete would retain its strength, a house with a foundation made of this material could store a day’s worth of energy produced by solar panels or windmills and allow it to be used whenever it’s needed. And, supercapacitors can be charged and discharged much more rapidly than batteries.
What I'm wondering is how to create a lightning battery with this? Unless my math is wrong (probably is) 1 lightning strike is
1 zeus = 1 billion joules = 300 kwh.
1 big-cube = 45m^3 = 10 kwh
density = 10/45 kwh/m^3
volume needed to bottle lightning = 300kwh * 45/10m^3/kwh = 1350m^3
cube of sides 12m. or sphere of diameter 14m
Bottle of lightning?
by slow_typist on 8/1/23, 2:34 PM
Therefore you need 63 GJ or 17500 kWh to produce a capacitor of 45 m^3 that can hold 10 kWh. (Omitting the 3% carbon in the mixture obv.) I hope the thing is really resistant and cycles forever without degradation.
BTW cement production contributes substantial amounts to global carbon emissions.
by 8bitsrule on 8/1/23, 4:18 AM
Of course, no papers need to be published ... that may be the goal.
by WJW on 8/1/23, 10:56 AM
Meanwhile, battery prices have fallen so much that you can buy 10 kwh of Li-Ion batteries for about $1500 ($150/kwh 2021 prices). The saving grace might be to have it do double duty as a structural element in the building, but many other posters have pointed out that there are many safety and construction problems that would have to be solved for that first.
by harvie on 8/1/23, 10:10 AM
Also if i understood correctly, this capacitor would need to be kept wet (with water) to remain operational right? Wet basement is extremely annoying thing with many unpleasant consequences to say the least. So this might require some efforts to maintain the moisture while keeping it contained.
How do you replace this thing? Eg. once cracks inevitably form in concrete, or when the carbon structure get damaged by accidental overvoltage/overcurrent, or when the insulation layers deteriorate. You cannot simply replace foundation of a building. Therefore it would make sense to keep the capacitor at least partialy separated from the structural parts of the building.
Anyway this seems as an interresting idea and i wonder if plastic bucket full of concrete would be enough to power something like UPS to provide 100W to keep PC running for 15 minutes. Might as well stop replacing lead acid batteries every other year if this is at least remotely viable.
by 1letterunixname on 8/1/23, 2:20 AM
A potential downside is the predominant production methods for cement aren't great for the climate.
by wumms on 8/1/23, 6:12 AM
Edit: 10kwh/3.5³m³ ≈ 0.233 Wh/l
> Besides its ability to store energy in the form of supercapacitors, the same kind of concrete mixture can be used as a heating system, by simply applying electricity to the carbon-laced concrete.
by porkbeer on 8/1/23, 3:07 AM
by rini17 on 8/1/23, 4:55 PM
I presume supercapacitor needs to alternate thin layers of electrode/the cement mix/insulator, not just pour the bulk? It then makes more sense to prefabricate bricks/panels and connect them when laying.
by riformareov on 8/2/23, 7:50 PM
by bilsbie on 8/1/23, 3:57 PM
Maybe dams could store excess energy in their structure.
by ajuc on 8/1/23, 2:49 PM