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Concrete that stores electricity is real at the research-prototype scale. MIT’s electron-conducting carbon concrete, called ec³, is a cement-based supercapacitor material that stores and releases electrical charge. In a 2025 report, MIT described a formulation storing more than 2 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter and estimated that about 5 cubic meters could hold the average home’s daily electricity use. That is a material-performance estimate—not a demonstrated home foundation or a product homeowners can install.
Can concrete store electricity?
Yes. MIT researchers developed ec³, a cement-based material designed to work as a supercapacitor electrode. It combines cement, water, nanoscale carbon black and an electrolyte. The carbon black forms a conductive network through the cement matrix; the electrolyte interacts with that network so the material can store and release electrical charge.
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Calling it a “concrete battery” is convenient shorthand, but ec³ is not a conventional battery embedded in concrete. A supercapacitor stores charge differently, and MIT notes that conventional batteries still have higher energy density. The potential appeal of ec³ is that storage could be built into a structural material, rather than occupying space as a separate device.
What changed in MIT’s 2025 results?
MIT’s October 1, 2025 account of the newer study said its research-scale storage capacity had improved by about an order of magnitude compared with the earlier work. The team examined the conductive network around the material’s pores using focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy tomography, tested electrolyte types and concentrations, and changed how the electrolyte was introduced: it was added directly to the mixing water rather than soaking cured electrodes. Organic electrolytes performed best in the reported experiments. MIT News, October 1, 2025
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The researchers reported more than 2 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter for the strongest-performing version described in that account. MIT’s estimate that about 5 cubic meters could store an average home’s daily electricity use is a scale illustration based on that research and its household-use assumption—not a measured capacity for an installed foundation. The earlier 2023 illustration used about 45 cubic meters of the then-current material to store roughly 10 kilowatt-hours, an amount MIT used to represent a day of household electricity. The two estimates refer to different research stages and formulations, not competing specifications for a product. MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering / MIT News, July 30, 2023
What has actually been demonstrated?
The 2025 report describes small prototypes, not a house-scale storage system:
- A 12-volt stacked ec³ supercapacitor powered a computer fan and a game console through USB.
- A miniature arch supported its own weight and an additional load while powering an LED. The LED flickered as the load changed; the researchers suggested this might eventually help indicate structural stress, but it is not a validated building-scale monitoring system.
These demonstrations show that the material can store and deliver power in prototypes. They do not establish that a building foundation can reliably store a household’s daily electricity and supply it when needed.
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Could a house foundation act like a battery?
That is a possible future use, not a currently demonstrated residential installation. The concept is to give structural elements—such as slabs, walls, domes or vaults—a second function as energy storage. If the material could meet both its electrical and structural requirements at building scale, some storage capacity might be incorporated into construction rather than added as a separate battery unit.
The design challenge is that the material must do two jobs at once. MIT’s earlier work reported a tradeoff: increasing the carbon-black content could raise storage capacity while slightly weakening the concrete. Any practical structural application would therefore need to balance electrical performance with strength and the requirements of the particular building element.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is energy-storing concrete available to homeowners?
The MIT accounts do not establish retail availability, installed cost, independent full-scale validation, long-term service-life durability in buildings, residential round-trip efficiency or maintenance requirements. They do not show that homeowners can order an ec³ foundation or use it as a replacement for a conventional home battery. The findings are research results, and the home-scale figure is an estimate rather than a tested residential product specification.
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Why researchers are pursuing multifunctional concrete
Concrete is used in buildings and infrastructure, so adding useful functions to it is an appealing research direction. MIT associate professor and EC³ Hub co-director Admir Masic described the broader goal as “multifunctional concrete,” combining functions such as energy storage, self-healing and carbon sequestration. That is a research ambition; the reported ec³ demonstrations establish energy-storage prototypes, not all of those functions in a finished building material.
MIT EC³ Hub co-director and civil and environmental engineering professor Franz-Josef Ulm has argued that ec³ could provide an alternative way for buildings and infrastructure to store energy. That is the research team’s view of the material’s potential, not independent confirmation that it is a market-ready substitute for batteries.
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