<i>Regular concrete is not conductive. But when you add the appropriate carbon-based material it can become a surprisingly good conductor. Scientists used nanoparticles to create conductive concrete that remains cheap.</i>

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Concrete is quite a versatile material. That makes it one of the most common construction materials used all around the world to build almost everything. Experts from MIT decided to add nanoparticles into concrete creating electrically conductive concrete.

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Traditionally, concrete is your typical non-conductor. But in recent times, material scientists are trying to change it and create conductive concrete. Usually, by adding some kind of carbon. We have, for example, seen concrete that automatically melts freshly fallen snow. Now, Nancy Soliman and her colleagues from MIT added nanocarbon black – a cheap carbon material that dramatically increases concrete’s conductivity.

As the material’s creators say, heat is being created by electric current. More precisely, by the interactions between electrons and atoms in a conductor. The electrons that are sped up by the electric field give a portion of their kinetic energy to the atoms of the conductor and thus create vibrations. These vibrations are of course heat.

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Experiments confirmed that concrete with nanocarbon black is quite good at producing heat. Even if you put in current at a very low voltage it still heats up. In this case, the concrete with nanocarbon black heated up to 41° Celsius. Such an effective material could find its place not only outside where it could melt snow and ice but also indoors.

The scientists think, for example, that it could be the ideal material to heat the floors which is now mostly done through a system of pipes with warm water. But these systems are very complex, hard to build, and maintain. If the concrete itself was used to heat up floors it would significantly simplify the construction. At the same time, it should also produce heat much more homogeneously.

<h4>Sources:</h4>
* https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.4.125401

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