Effect of ICP and ECP on performance of cement based battery system – An experimental investigation

Abstract

Cement-based battery system is an area which is at its nascent stage of development and is gaining status with evolving idea of finding new, sustainable and multi-functional building materials. Upon successful implementation and commercialization, cement based battery system will prove that this technology could be a ground breaking one by the fact of which, buildings and structures could be able to harness its own electric power for certain low power operations. The focus in the cement-based battery system is on the ionic conductivity of the pore solution in the cement-based electrolyte. A set of experimental works were conducted to assess the effect of addition of Ion Conductive Particle (ICP) and Electron Conductive Particle (ECP) in the cement electrolyte on the electrical performance of the battery system. Furthermore, expanded perlite, a lightweight aggregate had been included in the cement electrolyte mix to impart mechanical toughness to the system. In this paper, Open Circuit Voltage (OCV), discharge performance under constant current, discharge life and capacity are reported for different electrolyte mixes. The electrical performance was observed to have improved significantly upon addition of Epsom salt (ICP) at 12% by weight of cement than the Alum salt while the addition of ECP (graphite powder) did not perform as well as the ICP. The battery system with the electrolyte mix, that is composed of cement and Epsom salt at 12% showed 264% higher capacity in comparison to the battery system made with only cement in its electrolyte mix, thus highlighting the significance of addition of Ion Conductive particle.