Abstract
HighlightsZn-MnO2 batteries promise safe, reliable energy storage, and this roadmap outlines a combination of manufacturing strategies and technical innovations that could make this goal achievable. Approaches such as improved efficiency of manufacturing and increasing active material utilization will be important to getting costs as low as $100/kWh, but key materials innovations that facilitate the full 2-electron capacity utilization of MnO2, the use of high energy density 3D electrodes, and the promise of a separator-free battery with greater than 2V potential offer a route to batteries at $50/kWh or less.Large-scale energy storage is certain to play a significant, enabling role in the evolution of the emerging electrical grid. Battery-based storage, while not a dominant form of storage today, has opportunity to expand its utility through safe, reliable, and cost-effective technologies. Here, secondary Zn–MnO2 batteries are highlighted as a promising extension of ubiquitous primary alkaline batteries, offering a safe, environmentally friendly chemistry in a scalable and practical energy dense technology. Importantly, there is a very realistic pathway to also making such batteries cost-effective at price points of $50/kWh or lower. By examining manufacturing examples at the Zn–MnO2 battery manufacturer Urban Electric Power, a roadmap has been created to realize such low-cost systems. By focusing on manufacturing optimization through reduced materials waste, scalable manufacturing, and effective materials selection, costs can be significantly reduced. Ultimately, though, coupling these approaches with emerging research and development advances to enable full capacity active materials utilization and battery voltages greater than 2V are likely needed to drive costs below a target of $50/kWh. Reaching this commercially important goal, especially with a chemistry that is safe, well-known, and reliably effective stands to inject Zn–MnO2 batteries in the storage landscape at a critical time in energy storage development and deployment.Graphical abstract
Highlights
Large-scale battery-based energy storage is a key enabler in grid modernization for integration of intermittent renewable energy resources like wind and solar photovoltaics, for efficient grid decarbonization, for improving the resiliency of the grid infrastructure, and for providing grid operators with a flexible resource that can offer multiple grid services in the power and energy markets
We describe a vision for an emerging Zn–MnO2 battery technology with the potential to change the face of large-scale energy storage as a safe, reliable, and low-cost technology
We argue in this paper that rechargeable Zn–MnO2 cells can be produced in the near future at $50/ kWh
Summary
Large-scale battery-based energy storage is a key enabler in grid modernization for integration of intermittent renewable energy resources like wind and solar photovoltaics, for efficient grid decarbonization, for improving the resiliency of the grid infrastructure, and for providing grid operators with a flexible resource that can offer multiple grid services in the power and energy markets. This paper, will identify key challenges and outline a research and development roadmap to develop a secondary Zn–MnO2 battery cell manufacturable at an enabling cost of $50/kWh, with performance characteristics making it competitive with lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in all markets.
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