Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsusspring.2025.128
Publication date: 16th December 2024
Metal-air batteries are considered a viable alternative to conventional Li-ion batteries as their air-breathing electrode configuration results in higher theoretical capacity and energy density. Moreover, zinc-air batteries (ZABs) take advantage of low cost, environmental-friendliness and safety, since they work in aqueous electrolyte [1].
However, the main issue with ZABs is the limited performance due to sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), resulting in high overpotentials and low round-trip efficiency. The implementation of electrocatalysts helps to accelerate reaction kinetics and make ZABs more competitive for electrochemical storage applications.
Among a variety of electro-catalytical materials (transition metal oxides, heteroatom-doped carbon, metal organic frameworks, etc.) manganese dioxide (MnO2) is one of the most promising for ORR/OER [2].
In this scenario, we optimized nanostructured MnO2-based Gas Diffusion Electrodes (MnO2-GDEs) using different types of MnO2 micro/nanocrystals obtained by hydrothermal synthesis varying precursors and additives (such as CTAB or ionic liquids, e.g. BMIM-BF4). The use of additives allowed us to show a transformation in MnO2 morphology and crystallographic structure passing from beta-MnO2 nanorods (with a diameter of 200 nm) to alpha-MnO2 nanowires (with a diameter of 20 nm) by exploiting the capping agent capacity of additives during chemical synthesis [3].
In the end, we implemented MnO2-GDEs in laboratory-scale Zn-air batteries to investigate the relationship between MnO2 micro-nanostructure and their electrochemical performance in galvanostatic discharge/charge cycles and with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a full-device configuration.
Acknowledgements: Francesco Biscaglia is supported by the Italian National PhD in PHOTOVOLTAICS – work package ‘’Solar Intermittency and Storage’’
The author gratefully acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC), ERC Consolidator Grant ‘‘HYNANOSTORE” (project number 101045746) and from the European Union –NextGenerationEU, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Project code PE0000021, “Network 4 Energy Sustainable Transition –NEST” – CUP B53C22004060006.
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