Proceedings of MATSUS23 & Sustainable Technology Forum València (STECH23) (MATSUS23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.118
Publication date: 22nd December 2022
Currently, the only metal-air technology developed at high TRL is represented by the zinc-air primary battery (ZAB)[1], for a small number of applications, such as portable hearing aids, railway signalling, electric fence, and generally low-power/low-consumption long term uses. Although presenting many green advantages, like the intrinsic safety and non-toxicity of the aqueous electrolyte, use of abundant and recyclable Zn, absence of expensive or precious metals, ZABs’ barrier to larger and stationary applications (to compete with the already mature Li-ion, Ni-Zn, or lead-acid technologies)[2] is mainly represented by electrical rechargeability (i.e., developing a bifunctional cathode) and durability of the liquid electrolyte (i.e., leakage and/or evaporation of the KOH-based liquid solution)[3].
In this work, we survey the actual developments in electrically rechargeable ZAB (ERZAB) and analyse the selection criteria of materials by general and specific constrains, suggesting emerging directions for industrial development, guided by a sustainable point of view. ZABs should switch from conventional liquid electrolytes to gelled electrolytes, based on naturally occurring biopolymers; for the cathode, engineered mixes of specialized catalysts for oxygen reduction and evolution reactions (ORR/OER), not based on critical raw materials (CRMs), should be investigated, pursuing tuneable wettability and long-lasting durability of the cathode. There is an extensive literature about bifunctional cathodes for ERZABs[4,5], but performance validation should go more towards longer cycles and higher depth-of-discharge (DoD). Finally, interesting electrolyte and cathode materials are tested, and preliminary results are discussed to establish the next steps for future research and developments.
This work was funded by the R&D&I project PID2020-117626RA-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E. García-Gaitán and N. Ortiz-Vitoriano thank the Basque Government for the Beca Bikaintek 01-AF-W2-2019-00003 and Ramon y Cajal grant (RYC-2020-030104-I) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FSE invest in your future, respectively.
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