A Dendrite-Resistant Zinc-Air Battery

Shangwei Huang; Hui Li; Pucheng Pei; Keliang Wang; Yu Xiao; Chao Zhang; Chen Chen

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101169

A Dendrite-Resistant Zinc-Air Battery

iScience. 2020 Jun 26;23(6):101169. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101169. Epub 2020 May 16.

Authors

Shangwei Huang¹, Hui Li², Pucheng Pei¹, Keliang Wang³, Yu Xiao³, Chao Zhang², Chen Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Lab. of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
³ School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: cchen@tsinghua.edu.cn.

Abstract

Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) have drawn widespread attention for their high energy densities, abundant raw materials, and low cost. However, the issues of metal dendrite formation and air electrode failure have been impeding the development and application of ZABs. Herein, we designed a novel dendrite-resistant ZAB system by adopting multiphase electrolytes to conduct the zinc deposition and the oxygen evolution reaction. The oxygen reduction reaction electrode is kept out of the zinc deposition region to extend the lifespan. The ZABs show an energy density of 1,050.9 Wh kg^-1 based on the mass of zinc consumption, with an average Coulombic efficiency of ∼97.4% in 2,000 h discharge and charge cycling. More impressively, even if a short circuit occurs while charging, the battery can maintain the cycle performance without irreversible failure, which is conducive to the reliability of battery modules and its application in other energy storage/conversion devices.

Keywords: Electrochemistry; Energy Materials; Energy Storage.