The Construction Revolution: The World's First Living Cement Turns Buildings Into Recoverable Batteries

The Construction Revolution: The World’s First Living Cement Turns Buildings Into Recoverable Batteries

Written by Carla Teles

Published on 10/09/2025 at 21:52

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Developed in Denmark, New Construction Material with Living Bacteria Works as a Supercapacitor That Can Be “Fed” to Recover Its Energy Capacity.

Researchers at Aarhus University have created an unprecedented innovation. They developed the world’s first living cement. This material goes beyond just supporting walls. By incorporating living bacteria, the cement transforms into a supercapacitor capable of storing electricity. Unlike lithium batteries that wear out, this cement can live, die, and be reanimated.

What Is Living Cement and How Does It Work?

Concrete was considered inanimate for a long time. The Danish team challenged this idea by adding Shewanella oneidensis, a bacteria known for its ability to move electrons out of its cell. Once inside the cement, these microbes create a network of charge carriers. This network stores and releases energy effectively.

Initial tests suggest that the approach already outperforms traditional cement-based storage devices. Even more impressive is the resilience of the material. The cement continues to function even after the microbes die, and researchers are able to bring it back to life with nutrients.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

A Recoverable Energy System Within the Walls

Naturally, microbial activity tends to diminish when nutrients are depleted. To address this issue, scientists integrated a microfluidic system into the cement. This system provides proteins, vitamins, salts, and other growth factors. The goal is to keep the bacteria alive or, if necessary, reanimate them.

This innovative approach recovers up to 80% of the material’s original capacity. In practical terms, the team claims that buildings could become recoverable energy materials. This reduces the need for battery replacements or costly repairs in the future.

From Lab to Construction: Applications and Real Potential

The research showed promising results under extreme conditions. The cement stored and discharged energy in both freezing and hot environments. In a practical test, six blocks of the material connected produced enough electricity to light up an LED bulb.

“This is not just a laboratory experiment”, said lead researcher Qi Luo. He envisions the technology integrated into real buildings, such as in walls, foundations, or bridges. In these locations, the cement could support renewable energy sources like solar panels. The impact could be significant, as a room made with the material could store about 10 kWh, enough to power a standard corporate server for a day.

Toward a Self-Sustaining Infrastructure

With the expansion of renewable energy, the demand for affordable and sustainable storage is growing. Current batteries rely on scarce resources like lithium and cobalt, in addition to degrading over time. The cement-based system avoids these problems by using abundant, low-cost materials and natural bacteria.

Although still in its early stages, research indicates a future where buildings function as their own batteries. This could mean bridges powering their own sensors or homes storing daytime solar energy in their walls. The findings suggest that the next generation of infrastructure could be both structural and electrical.

The Construction Revolution: The World’s First Living Cement Turns Buildings Into Recoverable Batteries

Developed in Denmark, New Construction Material with Living Bacteria Works as a Supercapacitor That Can Be “Fed” to Recover Its Energy Capacity.

What Is Living Cement and How Does It Work?

A Recoverable Energy System Within the Walls

From Lab to Construction: Applications and Real Potential

Toward a Self-Sustaining Infrastructure

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

Forget petroleum-based asphalt: a Scottish company transforms 684,000 plastic bottles into one kilometer of road that is 60% more resistant and up to 10 times more durable, and the technology has already started replacing traditional asphalt in more than 30 countries.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

Australia prepares to dredge 96.5 million m³ in Moreton Bay to deepen, widen, and realign channels of the Port of Brisbane, in a project of up to 25 years designed to accommodate larger ships and enhance maritime safety and regional port efficiency.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Spain installs two giant pipelines 2.2 km off the coast to draw water from the Mediterranean and supply a megafacility capable of producing 200 million liters of drinking water per day.

Balloon the size of a stadium spends 25 days alone over Antarctica at nearly 37 km altitude and returns with data on cosmic antimatter that may reveal one of the rarest clues ever sought about the existence of dark matter.

Forget common renewable energy: HydroWing prepares a 10 MW project in Indonesia to transform ocean currents into predictable electricity, using turbines installed on the seabed in a region where the funnel effect between islands increases tidal potential.

While most dealerships in Brazil take days to deliver cars, in Germany two 48-meter glass towers hold 800 vehicles and release each model via automatic elevators in a few seconds.

Goodbye to workers assembling rebar on construction sites: intelligent robot carries and positions more than 2.2 tons of rebar per hour, ties 1,200 intersections per hour, and promises to cut up to 50% of the schedule in bridge construction projects.

End of bricklayers laying brick by brick: robot places more than 2,000 bricks per day, automatically applies cement, works with only one human operator next to the machine, and transforms traditional masonry into a high-speed semi-automated operation.

The Construction Revolution: The World’s First Living Cement Turns Buildings Into Recoverable Batteries

Developed in Denmark, New Construction Material with Living Bacteria Works as a Supercapacitor That Can Be “Fed” to Recover Its Energy Capacity.

What Is Living Cement and How Does It Work?

A Recoverable Energy System Within the Walls

From Lab to Construction: Applications and Real Potential

Toward a Self-Sustaining Infrastructure

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

Forget petroleum-based asphalt: a Scottish company transforms 684,000 plastic bottles into one kilometer of road that is 60% more resistant and up to 10 times more durable, and the technology has already started replacing traditional asphalt in more than 30 countries.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

Australia prepares to dredge 96.5 million m³ in Moreton Bay to deepen, widen, and realign channels of the Port of Brisbane, in a project of up to 25 years designed to accommodate larger ships and enhance maritime safety and regional port efficiency.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Spain installs two giant pipelines 2.2 km off the coast to draw water from the Mediterranean and supply a megafacility capable of producing 200 million liters of drinking water per day.

Goodbye to workers assembling rebar on construction sites: intelligent robot carries and positions more than 2.2 tons of rebar per hour, ties 1,200 intersections per hour, and promises to cut up to 50% of the schedule in bridge construction projects.

End of bricklayers laying brick by brick: robot places more than 2,000 bricks per day, automatically applies cement, works with only one human operator next to the machine, and transforms traditional masonry into a high-speed semi-automated operation.

The bridge that collapsed in seconds after being hit by a ship in Baltimore will be reborn as a cable-stayed bridge: Maryland signed $4.8 billion in four contracts for a 508-meter span specifically designed to withstand the impact of a giant cargo ship.

End of the tape measure, marking line, and subfloor error: robot prints the project directly on the construction site floor, creates layout up to 10 times faster, and marks 10,000 to 15,000 square feet per day with one person.

While stadiums in Brazil need hours to cover the field, Tottenham in London transforms a 9,000-ton natural grass field into an NFL arena in just 25 minutes with unprecedented technology.

Balloon the size of a stadium spends 25 days alone over Antarctica at nearly 37 km altitude and returns with data on cosmic antimatter that may reveal one of the rarest clues ever sought about the existence of dark matter.

Forget common renewable energy: HydroWing prepares a 10 MW project in Indonesia to transform ocean currents into predictable electricity, using turbines installed on the seabed in a region where the funnel effect between islands increases tidal potential.

While most dealerships in Brazil take days to deliver cars, in Germany two 48-meter glass towers hold 800 vehicles and release each model via automatic elevators in a few seconds.

Goodbye to workers assembling rebar on construction sites: intelligent robot carries and positions more than 2.2 tons of rebar per hour, ties 1,200 intersections per hour, and promises to cut up to 50% of the schedule in bridge construction projects.

End of bricklayers laying brick by brick: robot places more than 2,000 bricks per day, automatically applies cement, works with only one human operator next to the machine, and transforms traditional masonry into a high-speed semi-automated operation.