Nickel-iron Batteries Research Articles

Synthesis, structural characterization, and electrochemical properties of the Mg and Mn doped-Ni(OH)2 for use as active cathode materials in NiFe batteries

• The β-Ni(OH) 2 is synthesized by co-precipitate followed by hydrothermal treatment. • The β-Ni(OH) 2 is modified with Mg 2+ and Mn 2+ to create a superior cathode material. • Mg 2+ and Mn 2+ dopants improved the specific capacity and stability of Ni-electrode. • Mg 2+ and Mn 2+ dopants suppressed the O 2 evolution side reaction. Ni(OH) 2 is one of the most interesting electrode substances for high-performance nickel–iron batteries owing to its low cost, high specific capacitance, and environmental compatibility. However, the Ni(OH) 2 cathode electrode exhibits poor performance due to (i) competitive reactions such as the oxidation of the active material and oxygen evolution. (ii) the reduced charge acceptance of the Ni(OH) 2 positive electrode is related to a relatively long distance between the Ni(OH) 2 particles and the nearest portion of the substrate. In this study, β-Ni(OH) 2 is used as a starting material. Then, the Ni 2+ in the compound β-Ni(OH) 2 material is partially substituted with Mg 2+ and Mn 2+ , separately, and the performance of the as-prepared materials was optimized and examined. XRD, FTIR, TG-DTA, SEM/EDS, and ICP-OES confirmed the formation of the expected compositions. The Ni 0.95 Mg 0.05 (OH) 2 and Ni 0.9 Mn 0.1 (OH) 2 based-samples were optimal compositions with promising electrochemical activities. The partial substitution of Mg 2+ allowed separation of anodic/cathodic peaks and oxygen evolution. For example, the anodic and cathodic peaks are easier to identify because their potential shifted to more negative potentials. When using three-electrode configurations, the un-doped Ni(OH) 2 electrode discharge capacity showed a reduction of 76% after the 100th cycle. In contrast, the Ni 0.95 Mg 0.05 (OH) 2 and Ni 0.9 Mn 0.1 (OH) 2 electrode demonstrated a reduction of only 15% and 12% in discharge capacities after 100th cycles, respectively. When using a two-electrode configuration, the obtained discharge capacities were 40 mAh/g for the un-doped Ni(OH) 2 electrode, 120 mAh/g for the Ni 0.95 Mg 0.05 (OH) 2 electrode, and 159 mAh/g for the Ni 0.9 Mn 0.1 (OH) 2 electrode with an electrode cycle life of 43.49%, 88.24%, 88.54%, respectively.

Modeling the Performance of an Integrated Battery and Electrolyzer System

Both daily and seasonal fluctuations of renewable power sources will require large-scale energy storage technologies. A recently developed integrated battery and electrolyzer system, called battolyser, fulfills both time-scale requirements. Here, we develop a macroscopic COMSOL Multiphysics model to quantify the energetic efficiency of the battolyser prototype that, for the first time, integrates the functionality of a nickel–iron battery and an alkaline electrolyzer. The current prototype has a rated capacity of 5 Ah, and to develop a larger, enhanced system, it is necessary to characterize the processes occurring within the battolyser and to optimize the individual components of the battolyser. Therefore, there is a need for a model that can provide a fast screening on how the properties of individual components influence the overall energy efficiency of the battolyser prototype. The model is validated using experimental results, and new configurations are compared, and the energy efficiency is optimized for the scale-up of this lab-scale device. Based on the modeling work, we find an optimum electrode thickness for the nickel electrode of 3 and 2.25 mm for the iron electrode with optimal electrode porosities in the range of void fraction of 0.15–0.35. Additionally, electrolyte conductivity and the gap thickness are found to have a small effect on the overall efficiency of the device.

Study on the in situ sulfidation and electrochemical performance of spherical nickel hydroxide

In this paper, atmospheric reflux in water is used to directly form a nickel sulfide layer in-situ with excellent conductivity sulfide on the surface of spherical nickel hydroxide particles, significantly improving the conductivity of nickel hydroxide particles. The experimental results show that the spherical Ni(OH)2@NiS material synthesized by the in situ sulfurization method. As the cathode active material of nickel-iron batteries exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, especially high-rate discharge and cycle performance, which are better than nickel hydroxide electrodes with cobalt oxide. The atmospheric reflux method in water has a simple process and equipment and has no pollution to the environment. Spherical Ni(OH)2@NiS materials synthesized by in situ vulcanization can completely replace nickel hydroxide material with cobalt, and they have great commercial application value and market competitiveness as cathode active materials for alkaline nickel-based batteries.

Alkaline aqueous rechargeable Ni-Fe batteries with high-performance based on flower-like hierarchical NiCo2O4 microspheres and vines-grapes-like Fe3O4-NGC composites

Aqueous rechargeable secondary Ni-Fe batteries have attracted extensive attention due to low cost, relatively outstanding safety and high energy density. However, the nickel/iron electrode materials also suffer from poor conductivity and week cycling performance. In this study, we have modified the CNT-S-PEGm as electron transport channels with methoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG) via thiol-ene click to further provide more reactive sites, and then prepared the cathode materials of 3D flower-like hierarchical microspheres of NiCo2O4-CNT-S-PEGm composites by a solvothermal method. The as-prepared cathode materials reveal the capacity of 195.7 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1. In addition, the anode materials of vines-grapes-like Fe3O4-N-rGO-CNT>N-PEGm (Fe3O4-NGC) ternary composites have been prepared in a typical hydrothermal method. Notably, the promising Fe3O4-NGC anode materials exhibit the highest capacity of 308.1 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1. Due to such excellent attributes, the alkaline aqueous rechargeable Ni-Fe batteries of NiCo2O4-CNT-S-PEGm//Fe3O4-NGC have been successfully fabricated. Moreover, the as-assembled device displays the high capacity of 77.8 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and the energy density of 64.4 Wh kg−1 at 414 W kg−1 for potential energy storage.

High-capacity and high-rate Ni-Fe batteries based on mesostructured quaternary carbon/Fe/FeO/Fe3O4 hybrid material

SummaryThe Ni-Fe battery is a promising alternative to lithium ion batteries due to its long life, high reliability, and eco-friendly characteristics. However, passivation and self-discharge of the iron anode are the two main issues. Here, we demonstrate that controlling the valence state of the iron and coupling with carbon can solve these problems. We develop a mesostructured carbon/Fe/FeO/Fe3O4 hybrid by a one-step solid-state reaction. Experimental evidence reveals that the optimized system with three valence states of iron facilitates the redox kinetics, while the carbon layers can effectively enhance the charge transfer and suppress self-discharge. The hybrid anode exhibits high specific capacity of 604 mAh⋅g−1 at 1 A⋅g−1 and high cyclic stability. A Ni-Fe button battery is fabricated using the hybrid anode exhibits specific device energy of 127 Wh⋅kg−1 at a power density of 0.58 kW⋅kg−1 and maintains good capacity retention (90%) and coulombic efficiency (98.5%).

Rechargeable Concrete Battery

A rechargeable cement-based battery was developed, with an average energy density of 7 Wh/m2 (or 0.8 Wh/L) during six charge/discharge cycles. Iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) were selected as anodes, and nickel-based (Ni) oxides as cathodes. The conductivity of cement-based electrolytes was modified by adding short carbon fibers (CF). The cement-based electrodes were produced by two methods: powder-mixing and metal-coating. Different combinations of cells were tested. The results showed that the best performance of the rechargeable battery was the Ni–Fe battery, produced by the metal-coating method.

Iron-based perovskites-reduced graphene oxide as possible cathode materials for rechargeable iron-ion battery

In this manuscript, A-Fe-based perovskites (A = Sm, Nd, La and Sr)/RGO (AFOG) are reported for the first time as good cathode material candidates for post-lithium ion battery, namely rechargeable iron ion battery, Ni-Fe battery or super iron battery. AFOG materials are successfully prepared by the microwave-assisted graphene oxide (GO) method. Highly crystalline perovskites of less than 10 nm in diameter were successfully prepared without the need of any calcination step at elevated temperatures. The specific capacities of the resulting AFOG nanostructures were studied at relatively high charging/discharging rates in 1.0 M KOH electrolyte to test their high discharging rate capabilities. It was found that SrFOG provides the highest specific capacity due to the differences in its structure compared to the other AFOG nanocomposites. Upon the addition of 0.3 M K3[Fe(CN)6] to the 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, the specific capacities of AFOG have been greatly improved. A superior enhancement in the specific capacity was achieved with SrFOG that showed 187.5 mA·h·g−1 in 0.3 M K3[Fe(CN)6]/1.0 M KOH compared to 19.6 mA·h·g−1 in 1.0 M KOH at a scan-rate of 2 mV·s−1. Moreover, SrFOG’s specific capacity in 1.0 M KOH-containing ferricyanide showed 58-fold increase at a very high specific current of 10 A·g−1 compared to its value in the ferricyanide-free KOH solution; ca. 97 mAh·g−1 and 1.7 mA·h·g−1, respectively.

High Performance Iron Electrodes with Metal Sulfide Additives

Iron-based alkaline rechargeable batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage applications owing to their low cost, robustness and environmental-friendliness. However, the widespread deployment of iron-based batteries has been limited by the low charging efficiency and poor discharge rate capability of the iron electrode. Our previous efforts on iron electrodes based on carbonyl iron powder and iron (II) sulfide have shown promise in overcoming these limitations. With the goal of understanding the role of sulfide additives, in this study, we have compared the performance of iron electrodes with iron (II) sulfide, iron (II) disulfide, copper (I) sulfide and zinc sulfide. The electrode containing zinc sulfide outperformed all other electrodes with a remarkable faradaic efficiency of 95% at C/2 rate and a specific discharge capacity close to 0.24 Ah g−1 at 1 C rate. The electrode did not lose any capacity for 750 cycles of repeated deep discharge at C/2 charge and discharge rates. Further, these electrodes could be cycled at 55 degrees Celsius with no noticeable change in performance. We attributed the excellent performance of zinc sulfide containing electrode to the low solubility of zinc sulfide in the electrolyte and the stability of zinc sulfide towards electro-reduction under the operating conditions of the iron electrode. These insights indicate that zinc sulfide is a promising additive for designing highly efficient and robust iron electrodes for alkaline nickel-iron and iron-air batteries.

High-Capacity and High-Rate Ni-Fe Batteries Based on Mesostructured Quaternary Carbon/Fe/Feo/Fe <sub>3</sub>O <sub>4</sub> Hybrid Material

There is now an increasing demand for green, long-lasting and sustainable battery technology, due to the rapid development of photovoltaic and other renewable energy power systems. The Ni-Fe battery is a promising alternative to lithium ion batteries due to its long life, high reliability and eco-friendly characteristics. However, passivation and self-discharge of the iron anode are currently two of the main issues with Ni-Fe batteries, which lead to low specific energy (20-30 Wh·kg-1) and poor cycle efficiency (~65%). Here, we demonstrate that controlling the valence state of the iron and coupling with carbon can solve these problems. We develop a novel mesostructured quaternary carbon/Fe/FeO/Fe3O4 hybrid, containing iron oxides wrapped with a few atomic layers of carbon synthesized by a one-step solid state reaction. Experimental evidence reveals that the optimized system with three valence states of iron facilitates the redox kinetics, while the carbon layers can effectively enhance the charge transfer and suppress self-discharge. The hybrid anode exhibits high specific capacity of 604 and 528 mAh · g-1 at 1 and 10 A·g-1, respectively and high cyclic stability. A Ni-Fe button battery is fabricated using the carbon/Fe/FeO/Fe3O4 hybrid, delivering specific device energy of 127 and 110 Wh·kg-1 at a power density of 0.58 and 5.07 kW·kg-1, respectively. ~98.5 % Coulombic efficiency and ~90 % capacity retention have been achieved after 2500 cycles at 300 mA ·g-1. These features suggest that the Ni-Fe battery holds promise to become an important alternative in stationary energy storage.

Micron-sized iron oxide functionalized with hydrophobic mesoporous sheets for the Ni–Fe battery

Micron-sized Fe3O4 functionalized by a hydrophobic mesoporous structure accelerates the exposure of active sites and alleviates volume expansion to enhance Ni–Fe battery performance.

High‐Capacity Iron‐Based Anodes for Aqueous Secondary Nickel–Iron Batteries: Recent Progress and Prospects

AbstractInvited for this month's cover picture are the groups of Prof. Lei Wei at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The Front Cover shows an aqueous rechargeable nickel‐iron (Ni‐Fe) battery that is realized by recent achievements in the design and preparation of nanostructured Fe‐based anodes. This safe, environmentally friendly and cost‐effective energy‐storage technology will enable next‐generation aqueous rechargeable Ni‐Fe batteries for wearable and large‐scale energy storage. Read the full text of the Review at 10.1002/celc.202001251.

Front Cover: High‐Capacity Iron‐Based Anodes for Aqueous Secondary Nickel−Iron Batteries: Recent Progress and Prospects (ChemElectroChem 2/2021)

Front Cover: High‐Capacity Iron‐Based Anodes for Aqueous Secondary Nickel−Iron Batteries: Recent Progress and Prospects (ChemElectroChem 2/2021)

3D Printed Compressible Quasi-Solid-State Nickel-Iron Battery.

The design of a compressible battery with stable electrochemical performance is extremely important in compression-tolerant and flexible electronics. While this remains challenging with the current battery manufacturing method, the field of 3D printing offers the possibility of producing free-standing 3D-printed electrodes with various structural configurations. Through the simple and scalable strategy, various structural configurations can be produced. Herein, we demonstrate a 3D-printed quasi-solid-state Ni-Fe battery (QSS-NFB) that shows excellent compressibility, ultrahigh energy density, and superior long-term cycling durability. Through a rational design and adjustment of chemical components, two electrodes consisting of ultrathin Ni(OH)2 nanosheet array cathode and holey α-Fe2O3 nanorod array anode are achieved with a ultrahigh active material loading over 130 mg cm-3 and excellent compressibility up to 60%. It is noteworthy that the compressible QSS-NFB demonstrated an excellent cycling stability (∼91.3% capacity retentions after 10000 cycles) and ultrahigh energy density (28.1 mWh cm-3 at a power of 10.6 mW cm-3). This work provides a simple method for producing compression-tolerant energy-storage devices, which are expected to have promising applications in next generation stretchable/wearable electronics.

Heterojunction induced activation of iron oxide anode for high-power aqueous batteries

Aqueous Ni-Fe batteries show promise for grid level energy storage due to their high safety and low cost. However, high capacities of Fe-based anodes can only be achieved under slow discharging rates. Moreover, an activation process is often required, the mechanism of which has not been fully understood. Herein, we present a facile and controllable method to uniformly deposit Fe3O4 nanoparticles on a 3D graphite substrate. Post-mortem analysis demonstrates the partial conversion of Fe3O4 to FeOOH during the subsequent in-situ electrochemical activation process, forming a Fe3O4/FeOOH heterostructure. Density functional theory calculations suggest that a built-in electric field is formed near the Fe3O4/FeOOH interface, which facilitates the charge transfers and lowers the adsorption energy of OH−. The above modification on the active material significantly improves its electrochemical activity. The activated electrode delivers a high capacity of 509 mAh g−1 at the ultra-high current density of 100 A g−1. A Ni-Fe cell assembled with activated Fe3O4/FeOOH anode and Ni-Co double hydroxide cathode provides a high energy density of 161.3 Wh kg−1 and a maximum power density of 43 kW kg−1, making it a good candidate for high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness energy storage systems.

Optimum unit sizing of hybrid renewable energy system utilizing harmony search, Jaya and particle swarm optimization algorithms

Renewable energy technologies, which include wind turbines, biomass and photovoltaics, are extensively utilized in the generation of electricity in an island zones. Stand-a-lone systems that incorporate hybrid sources of renewable energy are employed and require different sizing of components to obtain optimum units to reduce fundamental challenges. In this paper, the Harmony Search (HS), Jaya and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms are utilized in sizing an optimum design of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) containing a set of the Wind-Photovoltaic-Biomass-Battery technologies with a goal of cost-effectively, efficiently, and reliably meeting customers’ electricity demands.The outcomes of the three algorithms are compared, and the one with the most techno-economic optimum unit sizing of the HRES was determined. The hybrid system’s reliability and efficiency are calculated using two factors: the maximum allowable loss of power supply probability (LPSPmax) together with reduced allowable excess energy fraction (EFFmin). Different configurations consisting of solar PV, biomass generators, wind turbines, and batteries are modeled, simulated and optimized to obtain a system combination that is most energy efficient and cost effective in the studied zone. The study demonstrated that the ideal system with the least cost and the best performance was that which consists of thirteen solar PV systems (70.98 kW), four biomass systems (160 kW), one wind turbine (20 kW) and 15 NI-Fe battery banks (288 kW h), with a total system present cost of $581,218 and a 0.254 $/kWh cost of energy.

A review of synthesis roots of iron nanoparticles

Nanoscience is a standout amongst the most significant innovative work action in the outskirt of current science. From most recent two decades the nanotechnology and nanoscience have increased more significance in the field of research because of the enormous scale applications. The present work audits crafted by various researchers for the planning of iron nanoparticles by various procedures. Iron is a standout amongst the richest and generally utilized components on earth. Iron nanoparticles have a tremendous potential for various applications including magnetic liquids, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) differentiate operators, catalyst for carbon nanotube development, nickel-iron batteries, and impetuses and sorbents for natural remediation. The preparation of iron nanoparticles by different methods, pulsed plasma, chemical reduction, chemical vapour condensation, one-step reduction, Green synthesis and Biosynthesis, its advantage over other processes are described. In this review article attempt has been made to compare each process by categorizing them specifically.

120 Years of nickel-based cathodes for alkaline batteries

Abstract During the 120 years’ development route of the nickel-based cathode, lots of efforts have been made to realize alkaline batteries with better performance. From the earliest Edison’s nickel-iron battery to the modern nickel-based battery, progress is always accompanied by backtracking steps, exhibiting a spiral-rising feature. In the early researches, composition and structures of cathodes gained most of the attention while since the 21st century, the morphology of the active materials has taken most of the research areas. Although the research interests varied with the development of technology, the core issues in material science still exist and cause unfavored problems, including insufficient energy density, limited cyclability, and inadequate rate performance. This review mainly focuses on describing a comprehensive development story of the nickel-based cathode and explaining the reasons for technology alteration. In the end, issues needed attention for future researches are presented to provide practical guidance.

Copper sulfate as additive for Fe3O4 electrodes of rechargeable Ni–Fe batteries

AbstractCuSO4·5H2O was used as an additive for paste Fe3O4 electrode by a simple physical mixing method. The results of cyclic voltammetry and energy dispersive spectroscopy tests confirm that during the initial charge, copper sulfate could be converted to metallic Cu with uniform distribution in the electrode and stable during normal charge–discharge cycles. Compared with the electrode without the additive, the discharge capacity of the one with 5‐wt% CuSO4·5H2O increases from 483 to 513 mAh·g−1 at a current density of 90 mAh·g−1 and from 147 to 221 mAh·g−1 at a current density of 900 mAh·g−1, respectively. After 50 cycles at a current density of 225 mAh·g−1, its capacity retention rate is 85.7%, but it is only 42.4% for the electrode without the additive. Combined with the results of powder X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy tests, the improvement in high‐power and cycle performance of the Fe3O4 electrodes might be due to the obvious depassivation caused by metallic Cu.

All-Metal Phosphide Electrodes for High-Performance Quasi-Solid-State Fiber-Shaped Aqueous Rechargeable Ni-Fe Batteries.

Aqueous secondary Ni-Fe batteries with superior energy density, cost-effectiveness, and outstanding safety contribute significantly toward the development of portable and wearable energy storage devices with high performance. However, the common electrode materials are nickel/iron or their oxides which have suffered from poor conductivity and cycle performance. As an ideal candidate to address these issues, metal phosphides may offer outstanding theoretical specific capacity, low conversion potential, and impressive redox. In this study, one novel type of high-performance flexible Ni-Fe battery with binder-free electrodes on conductive fiber substrates is successfully designed and fabricated. Carbon nanotube fibers with the direct grown hierarchical NiCoP nanosheet arrays and FeP nanowire arrays are fabricated first using hydrothermal synthesis and then the pursuant gas phosphating process. With the assistance of the PVA-KOH gel electrolyte, our fiber-shaped aqueous rechargeable battery (FARB) presents negligible capacity loss after bending 3000 times. Meanwhile, the assembled FARB has a significant capacity of 0.294 mA h/cm2 under the current density of 2 mA/cm2 and a high energy density of 235.6 μW h/cm2.

Stabilizing Metallic Iron Nanoparticles by Conformal Graphitic Carbon Coating for High-Rate Anode in Ni-Fe Batteries.

Nickel-iron (Ni-Fe) batteries are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage due to their high safety and low cost. However, their power density and cycling efficiency remain limited by the poor kinetics of the Fe anode. Herein, we report high-performance Fe anodes based on active Fe nanoparticles conformally coated with carbon shells, which were synthesized from low-cost precursors using a scalable process. Such core-shell structured C-Fe anodes offer high electrochemical activity and stability. Specifically, a high specific capacity of 208 mAh g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1 (based on the total weight of Fe and C) and a capacity retention of 93% after 2000 cycles at 4 A g-1 can be achieved. When coupled with a Ni cathode, such a full cell battery can deliver a high energy density of 101.0 Wh kg-1 at power density of 0.81 kW kg-1 and 51.6 Wh kg-1 at 8.2 kW kg-1 (based on the mass of the electrode materials), among the best energy and power performance among Ni-Fe batteries reported results. Thus, this work may provide an effective and scalable route toward high-performance anodes for high-power and long-life Ni-Fe batteries.