Proton Chemistry Induced Long‐Cycle Air Self‐Charging Aqueous Batteries

Abstract

Air self-charging aqueous metal-ion batteries usually suffer from capacity loss after self-charging cycles due to the formation of basic salts on cathodes in the near-neutral electrolytes. Here, air self-charging Pb/ pyrene-4,5,9,10-tetraone (PTO) batteries based on proton chemistry are developed in acidic electrolyte. The fast kinetics of H + uptake/removal endows the battery with enhanced electrochemical performance. Owing to the high standard electrode potential of oxygen in acid electrolyte, the discharged cathodes are spontaneously oxidized by oxygen in air along with H + extraction and thus achieve self-charging without external power supply. Notably, the air self-charging mechanism involved H + -based redox can effectively avoid the generation of basic salts on self-charging electrodes and thus guarantee long-term self-charging/galvanostatic discharging cycles of Pb/PTO batteries. This work provides a promising strategy for designing long-cycle air selfcharging systems.

Special Devices for Zinc-Ion Battery: Structure, Mechanism, and Application

“…Copyright 2023, American Association for the Advancement Science. (d) Self-charging schematic diagram of Pb/PTO battery in acidic and near-neutral electrolytes . Reproduced with permission from ref .…”

“…(d) Self-charging schematic diagram of Pb/PTO battery in acidic and near-neutral electrolytes . Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2022, Wiley-VCH GmbH.…”

“…The formation of alkaline salts on the cathode will result in capacity loss for air self-charging aqueous metal-ion batteries in a near-neutral electrolyte. Proton chemistry-induced long-cycle air self-charging acidic batteries with a pyrene-4,5,9,10tetraone(PTO) cathode were developed by Yue et al 16 Compared with metal ions, fast kinetics of proton uptake/ removal endow the battery with excellent self-charging cycle performance. Unlike near-neutral electrolytes, the reduction of oxygen in acidic electrolytes forms water molecules due to the presence of hydrogen ions and also inhibits the formation of basic salts (Figure 6d).…”

“…Near-neutral aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have recently received great attention due to their intrinsic safety, low cost, environmental friendliness, nontoxicity, and high abundancy of metallic zinc. − Therefore, ZIBs, as the complement to lithium-ion batteries, are considered to be an excellent candidates for large-scale energy storage. Most importantly, because of the easy preparation and strong adaptability of ZIBs, many special configuration devices have been developed (Figure ), such as photorechargeable ZIBs, − self-charging ZIBs, − stretchable ZIBs, , biocompatible ZIBs, ,− decoupling ZIBs, − micro-ZIBs, − etc. These devices greatly expand the application scenarios of ZIBs, such as small autonomous sensing devices, health monitoring devices, wearable energy storage devices, etc.…”