Catalysts For Rechargeable Zinc-air Batteries Research Articles

Manganese Oxide Catalyst Grown on Carbon Paper as an Air Cathode for High‐Performance Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries

Manganese oxide is grown directly on carbon paper through a simple immersion process, and used as a catalyst-modified air cathode for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. The manganese oxide is distributed evenly within the porous carbon paper, which promotes a rapid three-phase reaction and high utilization of the active materials. Zinc-air batteries with the manganese oxide catalyst directly grown on the carbon paper exhibit improved performance compared with zinc-air batteries fabricated by using manganese oxide powder catalyst coated on carbon paper. The directly grown catalyst reduces the contact resistance and enhances the discharge/charge profile of the zinc-air batteries. Zinc-air batteries with the directly grown catalyst show a discharge voltage of 1.2 V at a current density of 15 mA cm-2 and deliver a power density as high as 108 mW cm-2 at an applied current of 168 mA cm-2 . Furthermore, good cycling stability for up to 500 cycles is achievable during continuous discharge-charge tests without the need to replace the zinc anode or replenish the electrolyte; this outperforms most currently available bifunctional catalysts for rechargeable zinc-air batteries. This study illustrates a promising platform to enhance the cycle life of rechargeable metal-air batteries.

Researchers create first metal-free catalyst for rechargeable zinc-air batteries

The zinc air fuel cell (ZAFC) is a promising candidate for electrical energy storage and electric vehicle propulsion. However, its limited durability has become a major obstacle for its successful commercialization. In this study, 2-cell stacks, 25 cm² cells and three-electrode half-cells are constructed to experimentally investigate the degradation characteristics of the air cathode. The results of electrochemical tests reveal that the peak power density for the 25 cm2 cell with a new air cathode is 454 mW cm−2, which is twice as the value of the used air cathode. The electrochemical impedance analysis shows that both the charge transfer resistance and the mass transfer resistance of the used air cathodes have increased, suggesting that the catalyst surface area and gas diffusion coefficient have decreased significantly. Additionally, the microstructure and morphology of the catalytic layer (CL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) are characterized by scanning electron microscopes (SEM). SEM results confirm that the micropores in CL and GDL of the used air cathode are seriously clogged, and many catalyst particles are lost. Therefore, the performance degradation is mainly due to the clogging of micropores and loss of catalyst particles. Furthermore, hypotheses of degradation mechanism and mitigation strategies for GDL and CL are discussed briefly.

Manganese dioxide nanotube and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube based composite bifunctional catalyst for rechargeable zinc-air battery

Abstract A composite bifunctional catalyst (MnO2–NCNT) was prepared from manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanotubes and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNT) for the purpose of oxygen reduction (ORR) and evolution (OER) catalysis in the rechargeable zinc-air battery. From the half cell test, the MnO2–NCNT composite illustrated excellent activities towards ORR and OER in alkaline conditions. Based on the battery test, the composite catalyst displayed outstanding discharge and charge performance while maintaining good stability. In both cases, the marked performance improvements from MnO2–NCNT compared favourably to the NCNT and MnO2, which are the constituents of the composite. In particular, MnO2–NCNT exhibited improved half wave potential by 220 mV compared to MnO2 and much superior OER stability compared to NCNT based on the rotating ring disk voltammetry results. According to battery test, MnO2–NCNT decrease the battery resistance by 34% and concurrently improved the durability, discharge and charge performance in comparison to the MnO2 nanotubes.