Smart Brick Could Change Energy Storage in Buildings
Jeffrey Heimgartner posted on August 27, 2020 |
Researchers develop “smart bricks” for more innovative, sustainable building construction.
No matter what city one is in, there is a good chance that many of the homes and other buildings located there are made with bricks. Bricks have been a stable in construction for thousands of years, and researchers at Washington University in St. Louis may have just made bricks even better. In a recent paper, the team unveiled its “smart brick,” which is capable of storing energy.
“What we have demonstrated in our paper is sufficient enough for you to light up emergency lighting that’s in a hallway or sensors that could be embedded inside the walls of a house,” said Julio M. D’Arcy, assistant professor of chemistry. “The next step is trying to store more energy so that you can power bigger devices—like maybe a laptop—directly from the walls of the house.”
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis transformed a conventional brick into an energy storage device that can power an LED light. (Image courtesy of Washington University/D’Arcy Research Lab.)
As more emphasis is being placed on reducing carbon emissions and finding newer renewable energy sources, finding ways to store that energy is also needed. While lithium-ion batteries have been a trending option, the scarcity of lithium and the potential environmental consequences…