Concrete may have found it's killer app in graphene. Using this nanomaterial, researchers have created a concrete capable of storing electricity. According to researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the discovery could yield a far more efficient way to store renewable energy. Storing electricity in a conventional battery or fuel cell is an energy-intensive process, which is why most renewable energies are stored in a grid-scale battery when available. The problem with batteries is that their storage capacity is limited and they take up more physical space than is desirable. The new concrete-based material changes that. The concrete would be better than traditional storage devices in that it would use much less energy to store the same amount of energy. Liquid storage is best for renewables According to Sass, who is from Carnegie Mellon's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a concrete made out of nanomaterials would allow them to store electrical energy by replacing the water used in traditional concrete with an organic liquid. This organic liquid, which can be ethanol, methanol, or even seawater, will hold the charge. The storage process could be done by injecting the liquid into a preexisting mixture of concrete and other cement or cement-like materials, or by mixing the liquid directly into the concrete. By creating a concrete that can accept and release electricity, researchers say they'll have found a new way to store renewables. Because the concrete must use a liquid that has a much higher dielectric strength than water in order to hold the energy, the concrete would be better than traditional batteries. Also, because the concrete is very resilient, it would hold the charge for years. There is, of course, still work to be done. Researchers don't believe they've achieved the necessary dielectric strength of the liquid to hold significant amounts of electrical energy. So the real challenges in this study are still ahead of them. However, once the researchers achieve the necessary dielectric strength of the liquid used to store energy, they believe that the concrete will be able to hold a significant amount of energy. "It's very impressive. What they've achieved with these nanostructured materials is quite remarkable," said Andrew Wheeler, an expert on fuel cell research at Australia's RMIT University. "The challenges they've got are still significant, but there's a really good chance that they're going to get over that. You might even be able to use it as a water barrier, as opposed to all these expensive special materials that you've got to put on foundations to keep water out." What are your thoughts on this potential concrete breakthrough? Do you think the researchers will be able to achieve the necessary dielectric strength to hold large amounts of electrical energy? Or are you more skeptical and think they will find a way to improve on their process? Let us know in the comments. Source: American Chemical Society via Phys.org. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io