Rechargeable Aluminum–Air Battery Using Various Air-Cathode Materials and Suppression of Byproducts Formation on Both Anode and Air Cathode

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop a high-capacity rechargeable aluminum–air battery with resistance toward the degradation induced by long-term charge–discharge electrochemical reactions. We used different types of active materials for the air cathode material and used the mixture of AlCl3 and 1-ethyl 3-methylimidazolium chloride as an ionic liquid based electrolyte. Air cathode materials we have attempted was active carbon, carbon alloy, perovskite oxide, aluminum terephthalate as metal organic framework, and non-oxide ceramic such as TiN, TiC and TiB2. Perovskite oxide, TiN and TiC materials demonstrated stable performance in electrochemical reactions over the long term. Furthermore, when TiC was used as air cathode material, formation of byproducts such as Al(OH)3 and Al2O3 was suppressed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the suppression of the formation of such byproducts on both anode and the air cathode for aluminium air battery.