Al-air Battery Research Articles

Influence of microstructure evolution on the discharge properties of the Al–Mg–Sn–Ga–In anode for Al–air batteries

The influence of precipitate, grain structure and texture evolution on the discharge property of the Al alloy anode for Al–air batteries was investigated. The results will provide new insights for the design of anode materials for Al–air battery.

Design of Fe and Cu bimetallic integration into nitrogen-containing microporous graphene-like carbon via a hard-template-assisted strategy as an oxygen reduction catalyst for Al–air batteries

The performance of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can be enhanced through the utilization of multi-heteroatom doped, porous, and layered electrocatalysts.

N,S-codoped carbon microporous structures derived from dead ginkgo leaves as efficient oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for Al–air batteries

The exploration and development of efficient and cost-effective oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts for non-metallic biomass have emerged as a crucial avenue for synthesizing diverse carbon nanomaterials.

Highly efficient Fe–Cu dual-site nanoparticles supported on black pearls 2000 (carbon black) as oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for Al–air batteries

Acquiring cost-effective, high-performance, non-precious metal catalysts is crucial for substituting precious metal catalysts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to ensure sustainable energy conversion.

Correction: Influence of microstructure evolution on the discharge properties of the Al–Mg–Sn–Ga–In anode for Al–air batteries

Correction for ‘Influence of microstructure evolution on the discharge properties of the Al–Mg–Sn–Ga–In anode for Al–air batteries’ by Xuehong Xu et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 20469–20481, https://doi.org/10.1039/D4TA03381G.

Evaluation of the addition of cement ash to the PVA/TEOS/HCl gel electrolyte on the performance of Aluminium air batteries

Evaluation of the addition of cement ash to the PVA/TEOS/HCl gel electrolyte on the performance of Aluminium air batteries

Self-assembly of an amino acid derivative as an anode interface layer for advanced alkaline Al-air batteries.

Alkaline Al-air batteries (AABs) are gaining increasing attention for large-scale energy storage systems due to their attractive intrinsic safety and cost-effectiveness. Nonetheless, the future development of AABs is substantially hampered by water-induced self-corrosion processes on the Al anode. In this work, we introduce an amino acid derivative, namely Nα-Boc-N1-formyl-L-tryptophan (NBLT), into a 4 M NaOH electrolyte to construct a unique layer that can effectively regulate the surface microstructure of the Al anode. The findings of the experiments show that NBLT can be used as a reliable corrosion inhibitor. The effectiveness of such inhibitors increases with NBLT concentration, reaching a maximum of 73.9% at 1.5 mM. In comparison to the pristine condition, there is a significant increase in anode utilization from 31.8% to 82.9%, capacity density from 947.9 to 2469.1 mA h g-1, and energy density from 1261.6 to 3384.6 W h kg-1. Theoretical calculations indicate that the carboxyl moieties present in the NBLT molecule establish coordination bonds with the Al atoms, thereby exerting a dominant role in the formation of the self-assembled barrier. The present investigation paves an effective strategy to inhibit reactions between anodes and electrolytes for advanced AABs.

Corrosion behavior of selective laser melted 6061 aluminum alloy electrodes for aluminum-air battery

6061 aluminum alloy can be used as an anode for aluminum-air batteries. Compared with cast one, three-dimensional (3D) printed aluminum alloy shows more flexible design and production process. Moreover, the self-corrosion behavior of 3D printed aluminum alloy without grinding its surface layer in alkaline solutions (electrolyte for aluminum-air batteries) is unclear. Here, the comparison between 3D-printed and cast 6061 aluminum alloy is investigated by self-corrosion testing, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and hydrogen bubble visualization experimentation. The results show that although the corrosion resistance of the 3D-printed 6061 aluminum alloy decreases rapidly with time, it exhibits higher corrosion resistance at the initial stage of corrosion than that of cast 6061 aluminum alloy due to the “fish scale” layer and may be able to improve its discharge performance. The surface microscopy analysis results are in good agreement with those of the self-corrosion test and electrochemical characteristics.

Challenges and Strategies of Aluminum Anodes for High-Performance Aluminum-Air Batteries.

Aluminum-air battery (AAB) is a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage/conversion systems due to its cost-effectiveness and impressive theoretical energy density of 8100Wh kg-1, surpassing that of lithium-ion batteries. Nonetheless, the practical applicability of AABs is hampered by the occurrence of serious self-corrosion side reactions and substantial capacity loss, resulting in suboptimal anode utilization. Consequently, improving the anode utilization to facilitate the construction of high-performance AABs have attracted widespread attention. Herein, the fundamentals and strategies to enhance aluminum anode utilization are reviewed from modifications of aluminum anodes and electrolytes. This comprehensive review may provide a scientific tool for the development of novel AABs in the future.

Switching Electric Double Layer Potential by Phase Structure Control for Advanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Cobalt@Nitrogen Doped Carbon Core-Shell.

The key to design an advanced oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst is a well-balance between the adsorption and desorption of oxygen intermediates. This study systematically evaluated the ORR activity of HCP and FCC cobalt core-shell cobalt/N-doped carbon (Cobalt@NC) catalyst via theoretical and experimental studies. The electronic structure calculations using density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the ORR activity of carbon layer can be improved by 1) switching the electrostatic potential in the electrical double layer due to the polarization induced at the carbon-cobalt interface and 2) modulating the electron population in the bonding orbital in the C-O bonds in an ORR. The results revealed that an O atom is bounded stronger to the outer NC shell with FCC Cobalt than HCP Cobalt, which hindered the desorption steps of OH*. Experimentally, plasma-engineered HCP Cobalt@NC also showed remarkably advanced performance toward ORR compared to that FCC Cobalt@NC. The kinetic current density of HCP Cobalt@NC at 0.85V versus RHE is calculated as 6.24mAcm-2, which is six folds higher than FCC Cobalt@NC and even outperform 20wt.% Pt/C. In a practical Aluminium-air battery, HCP Cobalt@NC also exhibited slightly higher peak power density (110.57mWcm-2) compared to 20wt.% Pt/C.

A Ni-Fe layered double hydroxide anchored FeCo nanoalloys and Fe-Co dual single-atom electrocatalysts for rechargeable and flexible zinc-air and aluminum-air batteries

Developing bifunctional catalysts for the ORR and OER, along with a unique cathode structure, is essential for advancing rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) and aluminum-air batteries (AABs). Our catalyst (NiFe LDH A-FeSACoSA-FeCoAlloy-CNT/NC) integrates nickel-iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe LDH), iron-cobalt dual single atoms (FeSACoSA), and iron-cobalt nanoalloy (FeCoAlloy) within carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a nitrogen-doped carbon framework (NC). Due to its distinctive features, this catalyst excels, achieving an ORR half-wave potential of 0.84 V and an OER potential of 1.56 V (Ej=10mAcm−2). In ZABs, it outperforms the Pt/C+RuO2, reaching a power density of 266 mWcm−2 and demonstrating impressive rechargeability over 495 h (1484 cycles). Flexible ZABs achieve 173 mWcm−2 and over 270 cycles (90 h), while flexible AABs reach 145 mWcm−2, surpassing Pt/C+RuO2. Exceptional performance in terms of capacity, power density, rechargeability, and lifespan is attributed to the catalyst's design and the cathode configuration's unique attributes.

Effect of Tween 85 and calcium malate as hybrid inhibitors on the performance of alkaline aluminum-air batteries

The great potential application of aluminum-air (Al-air) batteries is due to their high safety and energy density. The downside is the severe self-corrosion of the Al anode. Herein, a novel additive package consisting of tween 85 (T-85) and calcium malate (CM) is developed to inhibit the hydrogen evolution of the self-corrosion of Al anode in alkaline Al-air batteries. In alkaline solutions, Ca2+ in CM preferentially forms Ca(OH)2 precipitates. It can adhere to the surface of Al alloy providing additional binding sites for [C4H4O5]2− adsorption at the solution/Al alloy interface. In addition, T-85 can also form a hydrophobic layer from its carbon chains. Al malate can be filled into the hydrophobic layer to form a bifunctional film on the anode. The utilization rate of the anode can reach 57.16 % and the efficiency of the corrosion inhibition can reach 76.23 %. This work provides a new reference for developing the full Al-air battery unit.

Addressing the Voltage and Energy Fading of Al-Air Batteries to Enable Seasonal/Annual Energy Storage

The European Commission's Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan-2018) aims to slow down anthropogenic global warming by 2030 and is seen as a crucial intermediate step to guarantee net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Its achievement requires a significant increase in renewable energy. Various technologies have been proposed to solve this issue, including power-to-X options, i.e., converting renewable electricity into a storable form (e.g., hydrogen), and secondary-battery-based power-to-power options.1 Nonetheless, seasonal and even annual energy storage in a low-cost manner is still a challenge. In this context, employing the earth-abundant, low-cost, and easy to transport and store Al metal as the energy carrier may offer some valuable options, e.g., the combination of Al production via inert-electrode smelting (power to metal) and Al conversion to electricity via Al-air batteries (AABs, metal to power).2 However, voltage decay during discharge severely decreases the practical energy density of AABs, especially, upon long-term operation.3,4 ,5 Herein, the electrochemical behavior of AMA in KOH aqueous solutions containing various concentrations of dissolved aluminum, predominantly present as , is compared to investigate the impact of . It is observed that an increasing polarization of AMAs occurs even before any precipitate is generated on their surface. Further experimental and computational results reveal that the accumulation of greatly reduces the OH- concentration and, in turn, negatively affects the reaction kinetics. Therefore, the voltage decay issue of AABs is caused by the accumulation of in the electrolyte rather than Al(OH)3 on AMAs. Subsequently, it is demonstrated that seeded precipitation of in the electrolytes to Al(OH)3 precipitate with releasing OH- via utilizing its lower solubility at 20 °C than at 50 °C allows effective recovery of the potential of AMAs and the voltage of AABs. At last, prototype AABs are assembled and tested to evaluate the feasibility of voltage recovery via the proposed seeded precipitation process. References (1) Ersoy, H.; Baumann, M.; Barelli, L.; Ottaviano, A.; Trombetti, L.; Weil, M.; Passerini, S. Hybrid Energy Storage and Hydrogen Supply Based on Aluminum—a Multiservice Case for Electric Mobility and Energy Storage Services. Adv. Mater. Technol. 2022, 7 (8), 2101400.(2) Baumann, M.; Barelli, L.; Passerini, S. The Potential Role of Reactive Metals for a Clean Energy Transition. Adv. Energy Mater. 2020, 10 (27), 1–8.(3) Zhang, P.; Xue, J.; Liu, X.; Wang, Z.; Li, X.; Jiang, K. Electrochimica Acta Improving Energy Efficiency of Commercial Aluminum Alloy as Anodes for Al-Air Battery through Introducing Micro-Nanoscale AlSb Precipitates. Electrochim. Acta 2022, 417, 140331.(4) Wu, P.; Zhao, Q.; Yu, H.; Tang, Z.; Li, Y.; Huang, D.; Sun, D.; Wang, H.; Tang, Y. Modification on Water Electrochemical Environment for Durable Al-Air Battery: Achieved by a Low-Cost Sucrose Additive. Chem. Eng. J. 2022, 438, 135538.(5) Liu, S.; Ban, J.; Shi, H.; Wu, Z.; Shao, G. Near Solution-Level Conductivity of Polyvinyl Alcohol Based Electrolyte and the Application for Fully Compliant Al-Air Battery. Chem. Eng. J. 2022, 431 (P3), 134283.

An aluminum-air battery/hydrocapacitor-inspired hybrid device for energy conversion from micro water droplets

Aluminum–air (Al–air) battery-inspired water-movement-based devices have emerged as promising candidates for green conversion because of their high specific energy and theoretical voltage. However, the self-corrosion of Al remains a huge barrier to hinder their large-scale applications. This study developed a novel hybrid device by merging an Al–air battery and a solid-state hydrocapacitor using a graphene sheet/carbon particles (GSCP) composite anode. A plant fiber layer separated the Al electrode from the poly(vinyl alcohol)/phosphoric acid electrolyte, which could greatly reduce Al self-corrosion. Additionally, the all-solid-state working condition of the device prevented negative leakage or undesirable deformation of the electrolyte when not in use. Moreover, the microporous GSCP electrode was synthesized through a green, cost-effective, and nonhazardous process by compositing exfoliated graphene with micro/nano-sized carbon particles processed from recovered spent battery parts. Remarkably, it could achieve a high-level open-circuit voltage of 1.5 V by simply dropping small-scale water droplets and daily repeating for over a month. Simultaneously, the stored energy was maintained for approximately 2.8 h due to water evaporation. Simply stacking cells in an array could amplify the output to power commercial devices. As a breakthrough, the device successfully operated as a human-breathing transducer. To explain the operational principle, a possible model based on the capillarity, ion diffusion, and streaming potential mechanisms was proposed and discussed comprehensively. This novel hybrid device provides considerable insight for future water-movement-based devices and small portable/wearable electronics and facilitates the development of green energy conversion systems.

Transpiration-mimicking wood-based microfluidic aluminum-air batteries: Green power sources for miniaturized applications

Capillary microfluidics on porous substrates emerges as an innovative platform for constructing miniaturized electronics. However, maintaining a steady flow within microfluidics remains challenging, thus limiting their practical applications. Inspired by plant transpiration, this work presents a novel wood-based microfluidic Al-air battery (μAAB) configuration driven by a photothermal evaporator (biomimetic “leaf”). Except for the Al anode, the μAAB features an all-wood design, utilizing the well-aligned microchannels of the natural wood for electrolyte transportation, partially charred wood as photothermal evaporator for flow regulating, and wood-derived self-standing carbon cathode for the oxygen reduction reaction. These components are assembled through mortise-and-tenon joints, and the resulting μAAB exhibits a remarkable peak power density of 230 mW cm−3. The superior performance stems from the boosted mass transfer, maximized electrochemical interface and minimized depletion boundary layer provided by the 3D channeled structure of the wood-derived cathode. A steady discharge for over 11 h (200 mA cm−3) is obtained via the continuous electrolyte flow which is facilitated by the photothermal evaporator in the μAAB. This work not only presents a novel concept for miniaturized microfluidic power sources but also highlights the potential of 3D wood-based microfluidics combined with solar energy utilization.

Electrode/electrolyte interface adjustment through adding mannitol into the solution to improve the re-discharge performance of alkaline Al-air batteries

As a high-power battery system, Al-air batteries exhibit a wide range of potential applications. However, Al-air batteries are susceptible to significant open-circuit corrosion of the aluminum electrodes when removed from the electrolyte during standby, resulting in the formation of a dense film of corrosion products on the aluminum electrode surface. This, in turn, impedes the re-discharge performance of Al-air batteries. Based on an electrode/electrolyte interface adjustment strategy, mannitol is used as the additive to be added into 4 M KOH solution to improve re-discharge performance. Experimental analyses and theoretical calculations reveal that the inclusion of mannitol enhances the re-discharge performance of Al-air batteries through a combination of hydrogen bonding and adsorption. Importantly, it is noted that mannitol has minimal impact on the battery power density. The reason for the improvement is explained reasonably by a proposed mechanism. These findings offer valuable insights for the development of Al-air batteries with high performance.

Boron and nitrogen co-doped carbon supported cobalt nanoparticle in neutral aluminum-air battery

Abstract A boron and nitrogen co-doped carbon supported cobalt nanoparticle catalyst (CoBNC-phen) is successfully prepared. The co-doping method led to the formation of a Co–N bond, inhibiting the accumulation of Co nanoparticles. This also changes the electronic state, hence promoting oxygen reduction reaction performance. CoBNC-phen exhibits a half-wave potential of 23 mV higher than the commercial Pt/C. The power-density of the aluminum-air battery is 20% higher when CoBNC-phen is applied as the air cathode. Meanwhile, the voltage remained stable after 15 h of discharge.

Corrosion inhibition of polyelectrolytes to the Al anode in Al-air battery: A comparative study of functional group effect

Al-air battery is a promising alternative to electrochemical storage systems because of their high energy density and low cost. However, the hydrogen evolution corrosion in alkaline electrolytes is a major obstacle before this technology can be commercially viable. In this paper, three polyelectrolytes as corrosion inhibitors for pure Al anodes in KOH electrolytes are investigated by electrochemical methods, hydrogen evolution rate (HER) tests, weight loss measurements, and surface characterization. The Attenuated Total internal Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and theoretical simulation results show that all the polyelectrolytes can be adsorbed on Al to form a protective barrier against the corrosive species. In particular, poly(allylamine) (PAH) exhibits the highest corrosion inhibition efficiency. Furthermore, galvanostatic discharge measurement reveals that the Al-air battery in PAH electrolyte exhibits the highest specific discharge capacity (1495.2 mA h g−1). Computational analysis shows that the inhibition performance depends on the frontier molecular orbital energy and adsorption energy.

A paper-based microfluidic aluminum–Air battery with intrinsic migration of electrolyte

The aluminum-air battery is one of the most promising candidates for next-generation miniaturized energy storage devices due to its high theoretical energy and capacity density. However, anodic self-corrosion and bulky liquid transportation systems have severely limited its practical energy density, hindering its usage for miniaturized applications. Here, we developed a microfluidic aluminum-air battery with zinc oxide (ZnO) as the inhibitor to overcome the abovementioned hurdles. The ZnO embedded alkaline electrolyte and microfluidic structure gain a maximum power density of 18.94 mW/cm2, an open circuit voltage of over 1.6 V, and a specific capacity of 2335.25 mAh/g (at 20 mA/cm2), while maintaining a low self-corrosion rate of 0.3043 mL/(cm2 min). In addition, the microfluidic design and ZnO embedment support the batteries to continuously work at 20 mA/cm2 for 120 min, 6.0 times the non-microfluidic ones and 1.18 times the microfluidic ones without ZnO. The performance of the battery can be improved by series connection or enlargement of the geometric active area. The design and method analogy proposed in this work can be readily migrated to the construction of miniaturized aluminum-air cell as reliable power sources.

Evaluating the Practical Viability of Aluminum-Air Batteries in Real-World Applications

The growing global population and petroleum use are contributing factors to serious environmental issues like climate change. Reducing dependency on petroleum can be achieved, for example, by producing big-capacity batteries that can be used in electrical applications. Because aluminum-air batteries have a theoretical energy density of 8.1 kWh kg1 , which is far higher than that of present lithium-ion batteries, they are considered promising for use in next-generation energy storage applications. An aluminum-air battery, which is a promising form of energy storage, uses aluminum as the anode and ambient air as the cathode. This abstract emphasizes the key characteristics of aluminum-air batteries while highlighting their potential advantages, challenges, and applications. These batteries appeal to a range of enterprises due to their high energy density, lightweight, and environmental friendliness. However, there are issues that need to be resolved, such as impediments to real-world deployment and short cycle times. Research to improve the performance and economic viability of aluminum-air batteries is underway, with a focus on uses in electric vehicles, portable gadgets, and renewable energy systems. This abstract provides a concise overview of this revolutionary energy storage technology with insights into its current state and potential. Key Words: Aluminum, Graphite, Non-toxic, Sodium Hydroxide, Eco- friendly, non-rechargeable.