Tech Frontier

 

Energy-storing walls made from ordinary red bricks

Harshil Dave

There is a common saying that,

“Boundaries are just made of Brick and cement.”

― Nikita Dudani

These common bricks are the most used element in the civil engineering, Constructions and also used as an important object to build the foundation. But when the human brains are thinking to take this brick in the form of technological advancement and to promote Sustainable Development such bricks are formed that has capacity to store energy.

 

Introduction

It is defined as a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term brick denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined together using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking them. Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities.

 

Taking back to Ages

Brick were introduced to Sapiens way back in 4000 B.C and were first used by the earliest fired bricks appeared in Neolithic China around 4400 BC at Chengtoushan. In that era the earliest bricks were dried brick, meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing earth or mud and dried (usually in the sun) until they were strong enough for using it productively. These bricks were made of red clay, fired on all sides to above 600 °C, and used as flooring for houses. By the Qujialing period (3300 BC), fired bricks were being used to pave roads and as building foundations at Chengtoushan.

Industrial Era

With the increase in development and wellbeing the utilization of brick was done for the betterment of the individual and production of bricks increased massively with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the rise in factory building in different countries such as England and Europe. For reasons of speed and economy, bricks were increasingly preferred as building material to stone, even in areas where the stone was readily available.

 

Methods of manufacture

Bricks are readily available in different forms according to its need, wants and Demands and also is based on the factors such as type of Construction , External factors such as Environment Compatibility and Seasonal Changes for that,

Three basic types of brick used that are un-fired, fired, and chemically set bricks. Each type is manufactured differently.

1.       Mudbrick - Unfired bricks, also known as mudbricks, are made from a wet, clay-containing soil mixed with straw or similar binders. They are air-dried until ready for use.

2.       Fired brick - Fired bricks are burned in a kiln  ( a furnace or oven used for Burning & Drying)  which makes them durable. Modern, fired, clay bricks are formed in one of three processes – soft mud, dry press, or extruded. Depending on the country, either the extruded or soft mud method is the most common, since they are the most economical.

3.      Chemically set bricks - Chemically set bricks are not fired but may have the curing process accelerated by the application of heat and pressure in an autoclave. Made from the Calcium -Silicate. Rather than being made with clay they are made with lime binding the silicate material.

 

Introduction of Red Brick

Some say that it was the Arabs that invented bricks. Certainly the middle east has a long history of using bricks as can be seen in the 12th century Iranian Shibeli Tower.

Red Bricks are manufactured bricks contain 50% to 60% silica (sand), 20% to 30% alumina (clay), 2% to 5% lime, up to 7% iron oxide and a little magnesia

It is a type of fired brick with human Intervention made of clay which is affected by the chemical and mineral content of the raw material used and shows reaction at firing temperature and the atmosphere of the kiln. Brick  can be pink, white, yellow or red in color. The pink is due to a high iron content, the color turns to various red hues on increasing the temperature. It first turns to dark red, then purple and grey or brown at around 1330 Celsius. The yellow or  white color is due to higher lime content.

 

Technological  Advancement in brick making

It was at this time in London that bright red brick was chosen for construction to make the buildings more visible in the heavy fog and to help prevent traffic accidents.

The transition from the traditional method of production known as hand-molding to a mechanized form of mass-production slowly took place during the first half of the nineteenth century. Possibly the first successful brick-making machine was patented by Henry Clayton, employed at the Atlas Works in Middlesex, England, in 1855, and was capable of producing up to 25,000 bricks daily with minimal supervision. Later, his mechanical apparatus soon achieved widespread attention after it was adopted for use by the South Eastern Railway Company for brick-making at their factory near Folkestone. The Bradley & Craven Ltd 'Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine' was patented in 1853, apparently predating Clayton. Bradley & Craven went on to be a dominant manufacturer of brick making machinery.

 

Technology meets Ordinary

It was when a person named Julio D’Arcy at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and his colleagues used a special conductive polymer called PEDOT to make their energy-storing bricks. First they took regular red bricks of the sort that are often used in constructing houses and heated them with acid vapor. They found that a brick wall can also be a battery. Thanks to the red pigment they contain, bricks can be turned into efficient energy storing device. The end result highlighted that bricks riddled with a network of tiny, conductive PEDOT fibers. After treatment, the bricks are a dark brownish-blue color instead of red.

They further found that epoxy coating in the brick also makes them waterproof. These polymer-coated bricks could be hooked up to a power source to charge up. They store enough energy that three small bricks, each about 4 x 3 x 1 centimeter in size, could power a green LED light for about 10 minutes on a single charge. They could be charged 10,000 times without losing more than 10 per cent of their storage capacity.

On a negative side they quoted that the bricks are exposed to acid so in the initial stage it will not be a good alternative used in for Construction purposes since they have not carried out Mechanical Testing, rather it can be used in a more decorative way by attaching it to Solar cells to provide emergency lighting .

When compared with a AA battery it is said that a brick would have more energy than a AA battery, but a AA battery is incredibly inexpensive and costs about $2 to $3 to make. But if the bricks are made viable as a building material and we can figure out a way to make them cheaply, then we may eventually have brick walls that our electronics can plug right into.

 Advantages and Disadvantages

Every Introduced technologic is developed, and presented by Huma brain which is imperfect in nature and is made successful after many Trial and Error or several experiments before making it public and it the stretched version of the previous maker so it is always considered an imperfect experimented product and is made perfect after identifying several loopholes which were missed while making it a usable product.

1. It is Robust in Nature
2. A micro structured object
3. Used as a water proof Component supporting the Supercapacitor.
4. Can be charged Multiple times and can provide energy or light for 5 hours
5. And can be cycled 10,000 time before the capacity falls. 
6. Energy lost in “round trip” inefficiencies
7. Additional cost and complexity
8. Additional infrastructure and space requirements.
9. Lack of Information on nits use can lead to hazard.
10. Proper Monitoring is required.
11. Availability of Cost efficient Superconductors to be needed.

 

Usage and a Boon to Mankind

The research team claims that a brick wall supercapacitor can be charged several times within an hour. According to the team, when 50 bricks are connected with solar panels, it can provide emergency lighting for five hours. It is further experimented and found that design of a new carbon nanostructure made from diamond nano threads that could be used for mechanical energy storage, wearable technologies, and biomedical applications. Researchers at IBM Research have also announced a new battery that could help eliminate the use of heavy metals in battery production, and this could lead to a paradigm shift in the long-term sustainability of many elements in our energy ecosystem. Generally, heavy metals like nickel and cobalt are used in batteries, which pose a severe threat to our environment and are hazardous. Such a solution could have numerous applications in developing countries, like India, where energy supply is not reliable. With PEDOT-coated red bricks, your house would essentially be able to power itself. Once applied, the red pigments in the bricks — essentially iron oxide or rust — trigger the polymerization reaction. With this, the coating remains trapped in the brick serving as an ion sponge that can store and conduct electricity.

 

 Sources used:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/what-makes-bricks-red/articleshow/2372854.cms

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251449-ordinary-bricks-laced-with-conductive-fibres-can-store-energy/#ixzz6xBR6SSki

https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=5554

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick

https://mercomindia.com/these-bricks-energy-storing-devices/