Beyond Catalysts: Pioneering a New Era in Aluminum‐Based Electrochemical Energy Systems

Abstract

Aqueous Aluminum‐air batteries (AABs) hold promise for advancing high‐energy density storage systems in future technologies. However, their widespread practical deployment is limited by the inherent hydrogen side reactions in Aluminum (Al) and incomplete cathodic reactions. To address these challenges, the Al‐sodium persulfate (Na2S2O8) system is introduced as an alternative to traditional AABs. Utilizing Na2S2O8 allows to simultaneously achieve three critical objectives, namely, eliminating the need for a cathode catalyst, increasing the system voltage from 1.4 to 2 V, and reducing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Three distinct configurations of the Aluminum electrochemical energy system (Al‐EES) using Na2S2O8: static, flow, and gel are developed. The static configuration demonstrates a performance 1.7 times superior to that of traditional AABs. The flow configuration of Al‐EES achieves a discharge duration of 77 h, which is three to four times longer than that of AABs and exhibits an energy density of 2,650 Wh kgAl−1. This emerging technology has the potential to significantly enhance electric vehicles by providing powerful, efficient, cost‐effective, and durable power‐generation devices.