Cement replaces rare earth elements to create supercapacitors? The United States is really putting in a lot of effort to bypass China

Tech 2023-10-06 10:51:51 Source: Network

If oil is the blood of modern industry, then rare earths are the vitamins of modern industry.China relies on abundant rare earth resources and the world's only advanced mining technology to stand at the top of the world's rare earth industry

If oil is the blood of modern industry, then rare earths are the vitamins of modern industry.

China relies on abundant rare earth resources and the world's only advanced mining technology to stand at the top of the world's rare earth industry. However, how can the United States be willing to face this? So, facing the situation where rare earths have been "stuck in the neck" by China, their eyes are fixed on cement!

It is said that this new discovery can completely change the world. Will it really change the rare earth pattern of the world? What impact will it have on our country?

More powerful capacity than rare earths

The new discovery in the United States is a type of supercapacitor, also known as a battery. Its essence is capacitor technology, and it possesses superior and powerful skills compared to those that require rare earth acquisition.

According to research by American laboratories, they have found that if ordinary and everyday materials are combined together through specific methods, a magical material can be obtained.

If the three components of cement, carbon black, and water are specifically combined, a conductive nanocomposite material will be obtained, which is the precursor of super batteries.

To accommodate charges, there must be corresponding devices, which are capacitors. A capacitor is a simple device composed of two conductive plates immersed in an electrolyte, with a non-conductive insulating diaphragm sandwiched between them. And these two conductive plates are the key to the capacitor being able to charge, as they can continuously accumulate charges and release electricity when needed. Therefore, the amount of electricity that the capacitor can store depends on the surface area of the two conductive plates.

The reason why this new type of super battery developed by the American Academy of Sciences can confidently claim to change the world is not only because its materials are ordinary and everyday, but also because its technology can mix and produce this material.

We all know that cement, carbon black, and water are three materials that are very easy to obtain. As long as they live on Earth, they can be easily obtained worldwide. However, technology is needed to generate energy storage effects and create a supercapacitor with high capacity, high efficiency, and long lifespan comparable to rare earth energy storage.

Researchers first add carbon black, which is highly conductive, to the concrete mixture produced by mixing cement and water, and then place it there to wait for it to change. Then this mixed material is placed in a conventional electrolyte, resulting in two electrodes. Two electrodes made from these seemingly inexpensive materials, combined with an insulating and non-conductive layer, form a supercapacitor.

Why can such simple materials form capacitors? This actually comes to cement. Cement is a magical substance that, when mixed with water, forms a dendritic network in the structure of cement, resulting in the formation of linear structures in hardened cement.

These linear structures are like branches, with larger branches giving rise to smaller branches, smaller branches giving rise to smaller and smaller branches, and so on, ultimately forming a very large surface area in a seemingly small limited space.

The role played by carbon black is that of a conductive wire. After the reaction between water and cement, water undergoes a hydration reaction in the cement while consuming water. It also affects the carbon nanoparticles in the carbon black, making it a conductive wire due to its hydrophobicity.

If this simple material and low-cost replication process can successfully produce super batteries, it will bring huge changes to the world!

The impact of new discoveries on the world's rare earths

With the continuous popularity of electric vehicles, the value of rare earth resources is also constantly increasing. Various countries are vying for rare earth resources, and even starting to search for rare earth mines globally, with footprints even spreading to Greenland in the Arctic and the remote deserts of Afghanistan. Many countries have begun to attach importance to rare earth, which has also led to an increasing number of "rare earth nouveau riche" in the world.

However, currently only a small number of countries have rare earth resources. If the new discovery of cement in the United States can truly succeed and replace rare earth resources, the world's rare earth pattern will be completely changed, no longer based on the model of who owns the resources being a rare earth power, but into a pattern of group dominance. At that time, rare earth and its accompanying industrial chain will undergo changes.

With the changing global climate, our demand for renewable resources is also constantly changing. If we can have super large batteries and energy storage devices, it means that we can get rid of the traditional problem of solar energy only being able to generate electricity through light. We can achieve a large amount of energy storage, such as making building exterior walls and auxiliary equipment for power stations, which is beneficial to the world.

Moreover, the emergence of large-scale energy storage devices can also reduce our demand for traditional fossil fuels, increase our efforts to address climate change on Earth, and play a positive role.

If the experiment in the United States is truly successful and cement is used to form supercapacitors that can replace rare earth resources, it will be a great good thing for the world's energy storage industry. After all, this type of supercapacitor can store a large amount of energy and even maintain it for a long time. For industries and equipment that require a lot of electricity, it will be an irreplaceable tool.

Rare earth resources are not limited to possessing resources. Behind them lies a vast and complex industrial chain and cluster. After all, the scarcity of rare earth resources is due to the difficulty in extracting them. This means that whoever has mastered rare earth technology will truly have an advantage.

In the field of high-precision and cutting-edge applications of rare earth resources, developed countries still have technological monopolies and advantages. With the changes in the world's rare earth resource pattern and new capacitor patterns, the strategic position of rare earths will become more apparent. Among them, which country can master the relevant economic and technological aspects will have core competitiveness and can occupy an advantage in the development of new industries.

'Rare Earth Power' VS' Rare Earth Power '

China can be said to be a "rare earth country". From the 1970s to the 1990s, the reserves of rare earth resources in China were over 80% of the global total. As the "hometown of rare earth resources" in China, the rare earth resources in Baiyun Ebo, Inner Mongolia even reached over 90% of China's rare earth resource reserves, and it is also the largest rare earth mine in the world.

However, in recent years, with the demand for rare earth resources in various fields, China's rare earths have been extensively or even overexploited, and the reserves of rare earths have been continuously decreasing, facing the problem of depletion of rare earth resources.

China's rare earth resources can produce hundreds of varieties, but in the current global rare earth resources, China's rare earth industry is still in a low-end situation, with 80% of the producible varieties still being low-end products and still in the stage of processing rare earth resources.

The new discovery of cement in the United States will affect China's position as a major country in rare earth resources and lower its value, especially in the field of high-precision rare earth development. China may further widen the gap with countries such as the United States and be in a passive position in the market. The development and production of rare earths can only rely on market changes and have no say.

In the absence of rare earths in the world, the United States' focus on cement is an environmentally friendly choice in terms of ecological environment. For our country, the excessive exploitation of rare earth resources has led to very serious environmental problems. Although rare earth resources have promoted our country's economic development, they have also led to soil erosion, acidification of water sources, and serious pollution, as well as reduced production of food crops. China has also paid a price while mining rare earth resources.

If we want to obtain rare earth resources without damaging the Earth's resources, it seems to be a difficult problem, but the experiment in the United States can help us reduce the mining of rare earths and still become an important part of our lives, creating a more environmentally friendly and promising rare earth resource market.

The diversification of the rare earth and related industry chain has made China hope to reduce the mining of rare earths. At the same time, in accordance with market requirements, it is necessary to improve its own refining and separation technology, so as to increase the economic value of China's rare earth industry. It is just around the corner for China to transform from a "rare earth power" to a "rare earth power"!

In short, rare earth resources can be used in various fields of modern industry and become important strategic resources. However, with the development of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, the demand for rare earth resources as non renewable resources has increased, which provides new requirements for the supply and demand of the rare earth market. The new discovery of cement in the United States is likely to change the current situation of the rare earth market, and even completely change the world.

The future of rare earth and related industrial chains will be a competition of comprehensive strength among various applications and industrial clusters. In the face of future technological requirements, China still has a long way to go. So what do you think the future of the rare earth market will be like?

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