Concrete already builds our world, and now it’s one step closer to powering it, too. Made by combining cement, water, ultra-fine carbon black (with nanoscale particles), and electrolytes, electron-conducting carbon concrete (ec³, pronounced “e-c-cubed”) creates a conductive “nanonetwork” inside concrete that could enable everyday structures like walls, sidewalks, and bridges to store and release electrical energy. In other words, the concrete around us could one day double as giant “batteries.”

As MIT researchers report in a new PNAS paper, optimized electrolytes and manufacturing processes have increased the energy storage capacity of the latest ec³ supercapacitors by an order of magnitude.

In 2023, storing enough energy to meet the daily needs of the average home would have required about 45 cubic meters of ec³, roughly the amount of concrete used in a typical basement. Now, with the improved electrolyte, that same task can be achieved with about 5 cubic meters, the volume of a typical basement wall.

“A key to the sustainability of concrete is the development of ‘multifunctional concrete,’ which integrates functionalities like this energy storage, self-healing, and carbon sequestration. Concrete is already the world’s most-used construction material, so why not take advantage of that scale to create other benefits?” asks Admir Masic, lead author of the new study, MIT Electron-Conducting Carbon-Cement-Based Materials Hub (EC³ Hub) co-director, and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) at MIT.

The improved energy density was made possible by a deeper understanding of how the nanocarbon black network inside ec³ functions and interacts with electrolytes.

Using focused ion beams for the sequential removal of thin layers of the ec³ material, followed by high-resolution imaging of each slice with a scanning electron microscope (a technique called FIB-SEM tomography), the team across the EC³ Hub and MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub was able to reconstruct the conductive nanonetwork at the highest resolution yet. This approach allowed the team to discover that the network is essentially a fractal-like “web” that surrounds ec³ pores, which is what allows the electrolyte to infiltrate and for current to flow through the system.

“Understanding how these materials ‘assemble’ themselves at the nanoscale is key to achieving these new functionalities,” adds Masic.

Equipped with their new understanding of the nanonetwork, the team experimented with different electrolytes and their concentrations to see how they impacted energy storage density.

As Damian Stefaniuk, first author and EC³ Hub research scientist, highlights, “we found that there is a wide range of electrolytes that could be viable candidates for ec³. This even includes seawater, which could make this a good material for use in coastal and marine applications, perhaps as support structures for offshore wind farms.”

At the same time, the team streamlined the way they added electrolytes to the mix. Rather than curing ec³ electrodes and then soaking them in electrolyte, they added the electrolyte directly into the mixing water. Since electrolyte penetration was no longer a limitation, the team could cast thicker electrodes that stored more energy.

The team achieved the greatest performance when they switched to organic electrolytes, especially those that combined quaternary ammonium salts—found in everyday products like disinfectants—with acetonitrile, a clear, conductive liquid often used in industry. A cubic meter of this version of ec³—about the size of a refrigerator—can store over 2 kilowatt-hours of energy. That’s about enough to power an actual refrigerator for a day.

While batteries maintain a higher energy density, ec³ can in principle be incorporated directly into a wide range of architectural elements—from slabs and walls to domes and vaults—and last as long as the structure itself.

“The Ancient Romans made great advances in concrete construction. Massive structures like the Pantheon stand to this day without reinforcement. If we keep up their spirit of combining material science with architectural vision, we could be at the brink of a new architectural revolution with multifunctional concretes like ec³,” proposes Masic.

Taking inspiration from Roman architecture, the team built a miniature ec³ arch to show how structural form and energy storage can work together. Operating at 9 volts, the arch supported its own weight and additional load while powering an LED light.

However, something unique happened when the load on the arch increased: the light flickered. This is likely due to the way stress impacts electrical contacts or the distribution of charges.

“There may be a kind of self-monitoring capacity here. If we think of an ec³ arch at an architectural scale, its output may fluctuate when it’s impacted by a stressor like high winds. We may be able to use this as a signal of when and to what extent a structure is stressed, or monitor its overall health in real time,” envisions Masic.

The latest developments in ec³ technology bring it a step closer to real-world scalability. It’s already been used to heat sidewalk slabs in Sapporo, Japan, due to its thermally conductive properties, representing a potential alternative to salting.

“With these higher energy densities and demonstrated value across a broader application space, we now have a powerful and flexible tool that can help us address a wide range of persistent energy challenges,” explains Stefaniuk.

“One of our biggest motivations was to help enable the renewable energy transition. Solar power, for example, has come a long way in terms of efficiency. However, it can only generate power when there’s enough sunlight. So, the question becomes: How do you meet your energy needs at night, or on cloudy days?”

Franz-Josef Ulm, EC³ Hub co-director and CEE professor, continues, “The answer is that you need a way to store and release energy. This has usually meant a battery, which often relies on scarce or harmful materials. We believe that ec³ is a viable substitute, letting our buildings and infrastructure meet our energy storage needs.”

The team is working toward applications like parking spaces and roads that could charge electric vehicles, as well as homes that can operate fully off the grid.

“What excites us most is that we’ve taken a material as ancient as concrete and shown that it can do something entirely new,” says James Weaver, a co-author on the paper who is an associate professor of design technology and materials science and engineering at Cornell University, as well as a former EC³ Hub researcher.

“By combining modern nanoscience with an ancient building block of civilization, we’re opening a door to infrastructure that doesn’t just support our lives, it powers them.”

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.

NASA’s VIPER lunar rover could be delivered to the moon by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company. The US space agency has awarded the company a task order to design a delivery plan for the rover, with a future delivery option.

The award, worth $190 million, was issued through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which the agency is using to buy delivery services to the moon from private companies. The award does not directly imply a delivery agreement; first, NASA will verify whether Blue Origin is capable of successfully sending the expensive VIPER rover to the moon’s south pole. To be eligible to take on the VIPER delivery, the company must place its Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander—complete with a NASA technology payload—on the lunar surface by the end of 2025.

Blue Origin won this contract to send cargo to the moon in 2023, and designed the Blue Moon MK1 in order to fulfil it. On this mission, it will carry NASA stereo cameras that will conduct surface surveys, in addition to small spheres equipped with laser technology for mission tracking.

“There is an option on the contract to deliver and safely deploy the rover to the Moon’s surface. NASA will make the decision to exercise that option after the execution and review of the base task and of Blue Origin’s first flight of the Blue Moon MK1 lander,” the agency said in a statement.

On the same day as NASA announced the award, Blue Origin wrote on X: “Our second Blue Moon MK1 lander is already in production and well-suited to support the VIPER rover. Building on the learnings from our first MK1 lander, this mission is important for future lunar permanence and will teach us about the origin and distribution of water on the Moon.”

VIPER—which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover—has been designed by NASA scientists to explore the moon’s south pole for ice and other resources of interest. It is about 2.5 meters tall, weighs nearly 500 kilograms, and has a one-meter drill and three scientific instruments. The vehicle had been scheduled to launch in 2023, only for that date to be pushed back. Then, in the face of rising costs and further delays, in July 2024 NASA said it had cancelled the mission. The CLPS award to Blue Origin now appears to have revived the program.

The arrival of private space companies has the potential to reduce the traditional costs of space exploration while allowing mission managers to focus on scientific issues. Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, and SpaceX are just some of the companies that have emerged in this sector and won CLPS contracts with NASA.

“NASA is leading the world in exploring more of the Moon than ever before, and this delivery is just one of many ways we’re leveraging US industry to support a long-term American presence on the lunar surface,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy in a statement. “Our rover will explore the extreme environment of the lunar South Pole, traveling to small, permanently shadowed regions to help inform future landing sites for our astronauts and better understand the Moon’s environment—important insights for sustaining humans over longer missions, as America leads our future in space.”

This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.

The government has unveiled 14 Regional Tech Booster projects as part of its £1m programme to provide businesses and entrepreneurs with targeted training and expert guidance.

In partnership with UK Tech Cluster Group (UKTCG), the £1m aims to deliver local expertise and includes a series of investment events under a National Investment Corridors initiative, through which the government is seeking to put local tech centre stage, boosting investment into the UK’s tech talent from beyond the capital. The first two of these events are taking place in Bristol and Leeds later this year.

The Regional Tech Booster programme will also include workshops on tech ecosystem planning and sharing best practices for ecosystem development with authorities across the country. Further Regional Tech Booster programme details, including investment event dates and venues, will be available via UK Tech Cluster Group as they are confirmed.

Tech for growth minister Kanishka Narayan MP said: “We want UK tech to grow and succeed from any and every corner of the country. It’s a no-brainer that supporting projects like these, and encouraging more investment across the UK, will catalyse our tech brilliance to boost economic growth and opportunities for communities nationwide.”

The projects receiving Regional Tech Booster funding include Tramshed Tech’s AI Innovation Challenge, which aims to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) capability and innovation across Wales, and ScotlandIS’s Future Ready in Scotland, which aims to break down the barriers that often prevent tech founders in rural or remote communities from accessing opportunities typically available in more urban or connected areas through creating peer networks.

In Northern Ireland, Tech NI Advocates and AwakenHub’s Activate AI pilot programme aims to boost AI adoption and productivity among under-represented founders and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region. 

In the East Midlands, Allia Impact’s Building a tech 4 good ecosystem pilot aims to deliver a structured support pipeline, from rapid prototyping and pre-launch programmes to scale-up and funding readiness across the region, while in the West Midlands, TN Naija is providing Build Here, Bridge Beyond, a programme to support immigrant founders in the region to scale locally and globally.

The East of England’s ACT Catalyst pilot from Tech East is targeting startups, scaleups and non-tech SMEs to raise awareness of technologies such as 5G, 6G, AI integration and quantum communications.

The Leeds Digital Startup Studio is offering a peer-to-peer learning model to support at least 30 early-stage and scaling tech businesses across Leeds and West Yorkshire, while in Sheffield, the Pathways off the Plateau scaleup programme from Sheffield Digital Limited is providing targeted support and bespoke action plans to at least 30 plateaued digital businesses in the city and across South Yorkshire.

Other pilots include Digital Plymouth’s Beyond Boundaries Pilot, which is a pre-accelerator programme designed to address systemic gaps in early-stage support in Plymouth’s tech ecosystem, and the Plus X Brighton and Sussex Innovation Centre’s Brighton and Sussex Innovation Partnership for Scale Up Growth, a combined initiative that seeks to strengthen the region’s innovation ecosystem and unlock growth across diverse sectors.

David Dunn, UKTCG lead on Catalyst Pilot Projects, said: “As the projects are delivered, we are excited to share learning across other ecosystems – it is this multiplier effect of knowledge transfer that really makes the Regional Tech Booster initiative valuable.”