Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube Incorporated Metal Oxides for the Fabrication of Printable, Flexible Nickel‐Zinc Batteries

Abstract

The development of printable composite electrodes embedded with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for flexible nickel-zinc batteries is presented. The cathode and the anode comprised of Ni(OH)2-CNT and ZnO-CNT respectively are prepared by coprecipitation of the metal oxides on CNTs. High loading ratio of electroactive materials increases the amount of active materials in electrode, but causes a lower material utilization efficiency due to decrease in overall electrode conductivity. The direct loading of active materials onto CNTs enhances contact where the CNTs serve the pathways for electron transport leading to higher performance than physical mixing of active ingredients. The cells show good performance even under bending conditions and the overall technology is scalable by printing methods.

Reducing Concentration Polarization and Enhancing the Performance of Flexible Nickel‐Zinc Battery Using Polytetrafluoroethylene as Electrode Additive

“…The use of solid or gel electrolytes would avoid leakage and water evaporation and thus improve performance ,. There have been several reports where metal oxides were loaded directly onto carbon materials,,, like carbon fiber cloth/ yarns,,,, or graphene . Such direct loading can lead to higher conductivity and electron transfer efficiency.…”

Development of nickel‐based cable batteries with carbon nanotube and polytetrafluoroethylene enhanced flexible electrodes

“…Metal oxide‐CNT composites can provide better contact between electrochemical active materials and conductive additives, facilitating electron transportation and enhancing battery performance,6a compared with simple mixing of electrode ingredients. Here for nickel‐iron cell anodes, Fe x O‐CNT 25.7 composite containing 25.7% CNT was produced through a controlled precipitation reaction between NaOH and Fe(NO 3 ) 3 .…”

“…Conventional battery systems have been converted into flexible/conformal forms. These include zinc‐carbon, alkaline, metal‐O 2 ,1e, 4 nickel‐iron, nickel‐zinc,1b, 6 and lithium‐ion 1c,f, 7…”

“…On the other hand, Ag‐based systems are expensive and unsuitable for many applications. Among the nickel‐based systems, nickel‐zinc battery system is promising due to the higher output voltage 6c, 13. Nickel‐iron battery is another proper candidate for cable battery application with its advantages: long life expectancy, durability under regular usage and special conditions including overcharge, over‐discharge, short circuit, overheating, and resistance to shock/vibration .…”

Development of printable, flexible nickel‐iron batteries based on composite electrodes

“…Various flexible batteries have been studied in recent years. These include zinc‐carbon, alkaline, metal‐O 2 , nickel‐iron, nickel‐zinc, and lithium‐ion systems . Even though lithium‐ion batteries typically show higher energy density, safety and flammability have been important motivations for developing water‐based batteries.…”