Stanford scientists develop high-efficiency zinc-air battery
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/su-ssd052913.php[font face=Serif]Public release date: 29-May-2013
Contact: Mark Shwartz
mshwartz@stanford.edu
650-723-9296
Stanford University
[font size=5]Stanford scientists develop high-efficiency zinc-air battery[/font]
[font size=3]Stanford University scientists have developed an advanced zinc-air battery with higher catalytic activity and durability than similar batteries made with costly platinum and iridium catalysts. The results, published in the May 7 online edition of the journal
Nature Communications, could lead to the development of a low-cost alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries widely used today.
"There have been increasing demands for high-performance, inexpensive and safe batteries for portable electronics, electric vehicles and other energy storage applications," said Hongjie Dai, a professor chemistry at Stanford and lead author of the study. "Metal-air batteries offer a possible low-cost solution."
According to Dai, most attention has focused on lithium-ion batteries, despite their limited energy density (energy stored per unit volume), high cost and safety problems. "With ample supply of oxygen from the atmosphere, metal-air batteries have drastically higher theoretical energy density than either traditional aqueous batteries or lithium-ion batteries," he said. "Among them, zinc-air is technically and economically the most viable option."
Zinc-air batteries combine atmospheric oxygen and zinc metal in a liquid alkaline electrolyte to generate electricity with a byproduct of zinc oxide. When the process is reversed during recharging, oxygen and zinc metal are regenerated.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2812