Invention Description
Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) consist of cells that use metallic zinc as the anode, atmospheric oxygen as the cathode and water‑based electrolytes. These batteries have a large appeal due to their low-cost production, sustainable approach (less reliance on rare/toxic metals), and solution for large-scale and slow-cycle energy storage. However, ZABs tend to have a lower round-trip energy efficiency (about 60%) primarily due to the lack of effective catalysts for the sluggish oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions and loss at the Zn electrode, which results in a high charge-discharge voltage gap.
Professor Zhaoyang Fan at Arizona State University has designed an advanced zinc-air battery architecture which increases open-circuit voltage (VOC), reduces overpotentials with an anode-cathode decoupled architecture, an advanced air electrode, and a novel catalyst. This novel architecture, new electrode design and new advanced catalyst materials can increase VOC from ~1.65 V to over 2.2 V and help ZAB technology move closer to practical, large-scale applications.
This novel battery architecture could help position ZABs as a low-cost, fire-safe, and sustainable solution for large-scale and slow-cycle clean energy storage, particularly for supporting grid stability and renewable energy integration.
Potential Applications
- Next generation zinc-air batteries for energy storage
- Stationary energy storage for renewable energy integration
- Grid-scale & off-grid power backup systems
- Reversible fuel cells & water electrolysis technologies
- Other metal-air battery systems seeking efficiency and performance improvement
- Clean energy storage solutions
Benefits and Advantages
- Innovative decoupled anode and cathode cell design substantially increases open-circuit voltage beyond traditional limits (~1.65 V to over 2.2 V)
- Utilizes non-precious metal catalysts that are self-supported
- Forms a robust, anti-corrosive electrode suitable for acidic conditions
- Stable atomic dispersion prevents clustering
- Reduces reliance on costly platinum group metal
- Enhanced catalytic activity for oxygen reactions in both alkaline and acidic media
- Round-trip energy efficiency- improvement above 80%
- Enhanced electrode design – reduces ohmic and concentration overpotentials
- Higher discharge voltages and improved cycle life for zinc-air batteries
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