A Biomimetic Cement-Based Solid-State Electrolyte with Both High Strength and Ionic Conductivity for Self-Energy-Storage Buildings

Cement -based materials are the foundation of modern buildings but suffer from intensive energy consumption. Utilizing cement -based materials for efficient energy storage is one of the most promising strategies for realizing zero -energy buildings. However, cement -based materials encounter challenges in achieving excellent electrochemical performance without compromising mechanical properties. Here, we introduce a biomimetic cement -based solid-state electrolyte (labeled as l -CPSSE) with artificially organized layered microstructures by proposing an in situ ice-templating strategy upon the cement hydration, in which the layered micropores are further filled with fast -ion -conducting hydrogels and serve as ion diffusion highways. With these merits, the obtained l -CPSSE not only presents marked specific bending and compressive strength (2.2 and 1.2 times that of traditional cement, respectively) but also exhibits excellent ionic conductivity (27.8 mS<middle dot>cm - 1 ), overwhelming most previously reported cementbased and hydrogel-based electrolytes. As a proof -of -concept demonstration, we assemble the l -CPSSE electrolytes with cement -based electrodes to achieve all -cement -based solid-state energy storage devices, delivering an outstanding full -cell specific capacity of 72.2 mF<middle dot>cm - 2 . More importantly, a 5 x 5 cm 2 sized building model is successfully fabricated and operated by connecting 4 l -CPSSE-based full cells in series, showcasing its great potential in self -energy -storage buildings. This work provides a general methodology for preparing revolutionary cement -based electrolytes and may pave the way for achieving zero -carbon buildings.