Development of carbon-free zinc-air batteries

Zinc-air batteries are thought to be among the greatest substitutes for present energy storage systems because of their high energy densities (~1000 Wh/kg), affordability, and safety. However, zinc-air batteries face several problems, such as carbon corrosion, pore-clogging, and electrode passivation. The main cause of these problems is carbon in the air electrode. Therefore, carbon should be eliminated from the air electrode to enhance its performance. This thesis aims to synthesize an electrocatalyst for air electrodes for secondary carbon-free zinc-air batteries within the scope of the M-Era.NET “AMAZE” project. Initially, manganese oxide was selected as an electrocatalyst and synthesized using a co-precipitation method with different parameters such as concentration, pH, temperature, and precursor materials. The best MnxOy was obtained with a solution pH and temperature of 9.5 and 60°C, respectively. The main precursor for the catalyst was KMnO4, with a ratio of KMnO4:HCl as 20:4 by volume. α-MnO2 with a surface area of 85.68 m2 g-1 was obtained. In addition, onset overpotentials for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions with 650mV and 271mV, respectively, and a maximum current density of 10.5 mA.cm-2 were obtained. Nickel and cobalt additions were evaluated to improve ORR and OER activity. Catalyst with MnxNiyCozOt(1:0.5:0.5) composition performed better than other samples and had the highest surface area (172.06 m2 g-1), ORR and OER potentials of 463mV and 700mV, respectively, and current density of 96 mA.cm-2