Scientists have created a new light-emitting cement that could last a hundred years and illuminate roads, highways or bicycle lanes at night by absorbing solar energy during the day.
?The main issue was that cement is an opaque body that doesn?t allow the passage of light to its interior,? said Jose Carlos Rubio, from Michoacan?s University of San Nicolas Hidalgo (UMSNH) in Mexico. Rubio explained that common cement is a dust that when added to water dissolves like an effervescent pill. ?In that moment it starts to become a gel, similar to the one used for hair styling, but much stronger and resistant; at the same time, some crystal flakes are formed, these are unwanted sub-products in hardened cement,? Rubio said.
Due to this, researchers focused on modifying the micro-structure of the cement in order to eliminate crystals and make it completely gel, helping it to absorb solar energy and then return it to the environment as light.