Light Emitting Cement

Can we imagine the future of our infrastructures without public lighting, a house without artificial power, because the walls will enlighten the rooms?

Dr José Carlos Rubio, from Mexico’s University of San Nicolas Hidalgo, has created a light-emitting cement that has a life span of 100 years.

By absorbing solar energy and returning it to the environment, he says the material will be able to light roads, highways and bicycle lanes without the need for electricity.

The main issue was that cement is an opaque body that doesn’t allow the passing of light to its interior.

So , he made a change in its microstructure to allow a partial entry of light into the interior for it to have this behavior.

Picture Credit: alphagalileo.org

How Light Generating Cement is Made ?

There is a chemical reaction between cement dust and water, that can be compared to an effervescent pill; the main product of this reaction is a strong and resistant mixture that starts to become a gel, but there are also other unwanted sub products like some crystal flakes.

These sub products when eliminated from the cement , reproduce a fluorescent material, capable to absorb radiation in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum and emit light in the visible region.

This material is totally ecological because it’s made out of sand, dust and clay, and during his industrial making the only residue left is water steam.

Production of Portland cement releases CO2 in the atmosphere which is the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

By the morning, the road, highway or structure that’s made out

of this new cement can adsorb solar energy during the day and emit it during the night for around 12 hours. It can also be used in the new buildings, especially in rooms that don’t require a lot of light, like bathrooms.

This material is ecological, natural and it has the same structural properties of Portland cement, and currently it exists in blue or green color!

Story Source: buildingcue.it

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