Human Hemoglobin-Based Zinc-Air Battery in a Neutral Electrolyte

Valentín García-Caballero; Sebastián Lorca; Marta Villa-Moreno; Álvaro Caballero; Juan J Giner-Casares; Antonio J Fernández-Romero; Manuel Cano

doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c02513

Human Hemoglobin-Based Zinc-Air Battery in a Neutral Electrolyte

Energy Fuels. 2023 Sep 25;37(23):18210-18215. doi: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.3c02513. eCollection 2023 Dec 7.

Authors

Valentín García-Caballero¹, Sebastián Lorca², Marta Villa-Moreno¹, Álvaro Caballero³, Juan J Giner-Casares¹, Antonio J Fernández-Romero^{1

2}, Manuel Cano¹

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Química Física y Termodinámica Aplicada, Instituto Químico para la Energía y el Medioambiente, Universidad de Córdoba, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain.
² Grupo de Materiales Avanzados para la Producción y Almacenamiento de Energía, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Aulario II, Campus de Alfonso XIII, 30203 Cartagena, Spain.
³ Departamento de Química Inorgánica e Ingeniería Química, Instituto Químico para la Energía y el Medioambiente, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Córdoba, E-14014 Córdoba, Spain.

Abstract

The use of human hemoglobin (Hb) as a catalytic component of the air electrode in a primary zinc-air battery with a neutral electrolyte has been investigated. Three different electrode modifications, using the drop-casting method, with Hb and Nafion were first tested in a three-electrode cell, obtaining the best oxygen electroreduction (ORR) performance and long-term stability with a Hb plus Nafion (Hb-Nafion)-modified electrode. The latter Hb-Nafion-based air electrode provided a higher specific capacity and discharge time than the opposite order (Nafion-Hb).