this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2024
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71
The cement that could turn your house into a giant battery (www.bbc.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 5 months ago (6 children)

On a laboratory bench in Cambridge, Massachusetts

For now, the concrete supercapacitor can store a little under 300 watt-hours per cubic metre

OK then, so this is incredibly far from being near any real world application

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (3 children)

OK then, so this is incredibly far from being near any real world application

I'd disagree with that, but we certainly need more info.

There are places on Earth where 300wh would be plenty and very far away from traditional power grids. Think like remote sensing weather stations or data collection stations. So a small solar panel could power these during the day and these supercapacitors would replace a wearable battery currently in use today.

We'd need more information how these perform under various temperature and moisture conditions.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

A cubic meter is just a whole lot of volume for incredibly little power. A regular 80Ah car battery has almost 4 times the power capapcity as a cubic meter of this.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago

Power density doesn't always matter. There are applications where space is abundant, but regular maintenance is prohibitively expensive.

In my quick example of a remote monitoring station, it may cost $10,000+ to send a helicopter out to change the 12v car battery when it dies from exposure to extreme temperatures in 5 years or less. If something like this supercapacitor can last 20+ years without every be visited, it would be more cost effective.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You wouldn't build a foundation with lithium batteries though. This is additional power from something that would take up this space anyway

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