Numerical Modeling and Analysis of the Performance of an Aluminum-Air Battery with Alkaline Electrolyte

Abstract

A numerical model is created to simulate the discharge performance of aluminum-air batteries (AABs) with alkaline electrolyte. The discharge voltage and power density, as a function of the discharge current density, are predicted for the modeled AAB and compared with experimental measurements. A good agreement between model and experiment is found. The effect of various model parameters on the battery performance is studied by adjusting the parameters within a suitable range. The results show that electrolyte thickness is a key factor that can strongly increase the power density and the corresponding current density as the electrolyte thickness decreases. The peak of power density is increased by a factor of two if the electrolyte thickness is reduced from 7 mm to 3 mm. The alkaline concentration is also an important factor, since both the voltage and power density curves are significantly raised as the NaOH concentration is increased from 1 to 4 mol/L. The partial oxygen pressure plays a secondary role in performance improvement. The peak of power density is increased by 35% using pure oxygen in the air electrode. In addition, the active specific surface area of the catalyst layer also affects the discharge capability of the AAB system.

Ultrathin Al–air batteries by reducing the thickness of solid electrolyte using aerosol jet printing

“…Figure 4 f shows that the battery ohmic resistance is greatly reduced from 63 Ω for 74.5 μm electrolyte to 12 Ω for 18.3 μm electrolyte. In the research of Yang et al 39 , 40 , it has also been confirmed that the performance of the battery is affected by the thickness of the electrolyte. As the distance between the two electrodes decreases, the ion diffusion efficiency in the electrolyte increases, the internal resistance of the battery decreases accordingly, and the battery performance improves.…”

Electrochemical Performance of Al-1Zn-0.1In-0.1Sn-0.5Mg-xMn (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) Alloys Used as the Anode of an Al-Air Battery

“…Owing to higher theoretical capacity (2.98 Ah•g −1 ) and lower cost compared to other metal anode materials, for instance, Mg (2.20 Ah•g −1 ) and Zn (0.82 Ah•g −1 ), the second-highest energy density (8.1 kWh•kg −1 ) after Li (13.3 kWh•kg −1 ), and its low negative electrochemical potential (−1.66 V vs. NHE), aluminum shows great potential for its application in MAB as the negative electrode material. The additional advantages of aluminum include its abundance, rapid mechanical rechargeability, environmental friendliness, and ease of recycling [6][7][8][9].…”