Red Bricks Capable of Storing and Providing Electricity

Imagine powering up your laptop or phone by simply connecting them to the brick walls of your house.
 
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri are working to do just that with the successful transformation of every-day red bricks into energy storage devices currently capable of powering LED lights.
 
Julio M. D’Arcy, assistant professor of chemistry and fellow chemistry department scientists recently published their research highlighting the development of “smart bricks”.
 
Using the strong porous structure naturally found in bricks, D’Arcy and colleagues pumped gases through these pores, which reacted with the brick’s chemical components, creating a coating called PEDOT. The coating comprised of plastic nanofibers embedded inside the brick acts as a sponge capable of storing and conducting electricity within the brick.
 
Considering bricks already occupy large amounts of space in the form of walls and buildings, this common building material could be utilized as an additional means to store electricity. For example, when used as electricity storage for solar panels, D’Arcy estimates that 50 smart bricks could power LED lighting for up to five hours from stored electricity.
 
However, there are some limitations with the initial development of smart brick technology. Similar to traditional batteries, the bricks can store large amounts of energy. But batteries can hold onto the charge of electricity and continually deliver it over long periods of time, while the initial research shows that smart bricks can only sustain the stored electricity for short periods of time.
 
But with further research and development of smart brick capabilities, there is significant potential for someday optimizing the use of everyday brick walls for powering your everyday devices.