Researchers Eye Electricity Storage in 'Smart Bricks' to Power Devices

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis developed a way to make “smart bricks” to store electricity for powering electronics devices, blogged the school, citing an Aug. 11 Nature article. Researchers converted red bricks, bought at Home Depot for 65 cents each, into a supercapacitor. “We have developed a coating of the conducting polymer PEDOT [poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)],” comprising nanofibers that “penetrate the inner porous network of a brick; a polymer coating remains trapped in a brick and serves as an ion sponge that stores and conducts electricity,” said Julio D’Arcy, assistant chemistry professor. The red pigment in bricks -- iron oxide -- is essential for triggering the polymerization reaction, he said. The authors calculate that walls made of energy-storing bricks could bank a substantial amount of energy. “A brick wall serving as a supercapacitor can be recharged hundreds of thousands of times within an hour,” said D’Arcy. “If you connect a couple of bricks, microelectronics sensors would be easily powered.” A proof of concept in the Nature article shows a brick directly powering a green LED.