Enabling Acidic Oxygen Reduction Reaction in a Zinc-Air Battery with Bipolar Membrane

Abstract

Zinc-air batteries are a promising alternative to lithium ion batteries due to their large energy density, safety, and low production cost. However, the stability of the zinc-air battery is often low due to the formation of dendrite which causes short circuiting and the CO2 adsorption from the air which causes carbonate formation on the air electrode. In this work, we demonstrate a zinc-air battery design with acidic oxygen reduction reaction for the first time via the incorporation of a bipolar membrane. The bipolar membrane creates a locally acidic environment in the air cathode which could lead to a higher oxygen reduction reaction activity and a better 4-electron selectivity toward water instead of the 2-electron pathway toward peroxide. Locally acidic air cathode is also effective at improving the cell’s durability by preventing carbonate formation. Gas chromatography confirms that CO2 adsorption is 7 times lower in the bipolar membrane compared to a conventional battery separator. A stable cycling of 300+ hours is achieved at 5 mA/cm2. Dendrite formation is also mitigated due to the mechanical strength of the membrane. The insights from this work could be leveraged to develop a better zinc-air battery design for long-term energy storage applications.

Rational Design of Heterostructured Ru Cluster‐Based Catalyst for pH Universal Hydrogen Evolution Reaction and High‐Performance Zn‐H2O Battery

“…Interestingly, when replacing the hydrophilic carbon cloth in the battery with a hydrophobic carbon cloth as current collector, a hybrid battery (Zn‐H 2 O and Zn‐O 2 ) is established, showing enhanced performance. [ 50 ] This can be due to the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) ability of Mo 2 C‐Ru/C (Figure S22, Supporting Information). Impressively, the alkaline‐acid and alkaline hybrid battery can achieve a much higher OCV of 2.16 and 1.36 V (Figure 6d), respectively, resulting in peak power densities of 280 and 242 mW cm −2 (Figure 6e).…”

Long-Term Stability of Seawater Acidification and Its Effect on the Formation of Mg(OH)2 Films with a Hierarchical Porous Structure in Bipolar Membrane-Based Direct Seawater Electrolysis

“…When a reverse bias is applied across the BPM, WD occurs at the IL, producing protons and hydroxide anions that migrate through the corresponding layer. BPMs have been applied in various electrochemical systems, such as electrodialysis, 13 fuel cells, 14 batteries, 15 water electrolysis, 16 and iontronics, 17 where side reactions, such as precipitation, do not occur in the liquid phase in contact with the BPM.…”

Porous Organic Polymers‐Based Single‐Atom Catalysts for Sustainable Energy‐Related Electrocatalysis

“…Such a situation potentially challenges the ZAB's durability. Employing a bipolar membrane to create different reaction microenvironment, that is, air cathode in acid and zinc anode in base, could prevent carbonate formation and provide a viable solution to surmount the durability issue, as proposed by Li et al [138] The bipolar membrane-enabled ZAB configuration is thus highly suggested for future device. Fourth, current SACs in ZAB are mostly evaluated in a single cell with a working area of air cathode around 1-2 cm 2 .…”