An Inexpensive Paper-Based Aluminum-Air Battery

Abstract

Paper-based batteries are an alternative to traditional batteries due to their low cost, portability, and simplicity to operate. In the present work, we demonstrate an improved and inexpensive paper-based aluminum-air battery employing KOH as the electrolyte with sufficient energy to power small devices. The dimensions of the device, electrode size, and electrolyte concentration were optimized with respect to amperage and reproducibility. The maximum amperage of 17.4 mA and maximum power of 3.0 mW was achieved with a 9 cm2 battery with anode and cathode electrode areas of 5.1 cm2 and 3.75 cm2 respectively, using 1.5 M potassium hydroxide (KOH). In a series configuration, the batteries generate sufficient energy to power light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a flashlight, a glucometer, and a pregnancy test.

The potential of paper-based diagnostics to meet the ASSURED criteria

“…Recent examples of paper-based batteries enable sufficient powering of LEDs and handheld devices such as glucometers, 163 which could be used to drive various sensors and visual readout or displays for paper-based ASSURED diagnostics.…”

Educational Metal–Air Battery

“…Metal–air batteries could become important energy sources or electricity grid stabilizers due to their high energy densityfor example, 8.1 kWh/kg for Al, 6.8 kWh for Mg, and 1.3 kWh/kg for Zn metal fuel vs 0.25 kWh/kg for Li-ion batteries. ,, If some technical issues are resolved, metal–air batteries have the potential to power heavy transport and aviation in the future. Currently, cheap metal–air batteries could be used as low power disposable batteries which can be activated in contact with water; examples of use include electronic pregnancy or virus antibody tests. Rechargeability in aqueous solution (like for alkali metal-ion batteries in organic electrolytes , ) is technically only possible with zinc, but it would need a porous anode and a solid electrolyte to mitigate the formation of dendrites in a liquid electrolyte .…”

Encendiendo un diodo LED con una pequeña batería hecha en casa

“…Otros diseños más pequeños, hacen uso de materiales que son difíciles de conseguir para un estudiante (Eggen y Skaugrud, 2015). Por otro lado, en aquellos casos en los que la batería se construye con materiales de supermercado, las celdas individuales son incapaces de alcanzar el voltaje mínimo requerido para que un led ilumine, por lo que se hace necesario el tener que conectar variar celdas en serie, lo que conlleva un aumento en el tamaño del sistema, y dificulta su manipulación (Avoundjian et al, 2017).…”