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LiveScience
LiveScience
Owen Hughes

Self-healing 'concrete batteries' now 10 times better — they could one day power cities, scientists say

A protoype arch made from EC³.

MIT researchers have improved a new type of "concrete battery" by tenfold, paving the way for its use in turning buildings, bridges and sidewalks into giant energy stores capable of powering entire cities.

The material is called electron-conducting carbon concrete — or ec³ — and is made by combining cement, water, a common liquid electrolyte and an extremely fine carbon powder called nanoscale carbon black.

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