What are metal air batteries?
Metal–air batteries are a mature family of primary and secondary cells. In metal–air batteries the positive electrode is carbon–based covering with some precious metals for reacting with oxygen. The other electrode is made of a metal such as zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and lithium.
What is a zinc air battery?
Zinc–air battery. Zinc–air batteries (non-rechargeable) , and zinc–air fuel cells (mechanically rechargeable) are metal–air batteries powered by oxidizing zinc with oxygen from the air. These batteries have high energy densities and are relatively inexpensive to produce.
What is Phinergy air battery?
Phinergy, a well known Israeli developer company focused on utilization of metal air battery like aluminum air battery and zinc air battery. The specialty of air metal battery is that they take oxygen from ambient air. Aluminum air battery has very high energy density, it is as high as 300 Wh per one ib of aluminum.
Can iron air batteries be used as a primary battery?
Although the iron–air battery system has these charge–discharge features and abundance of electrode material, it is a minor candidate as a primary battery compared to zinc–air battery or aluminum–air battery since both the expected capacity and the expected working voltage of iron negative electrode are lower than those of zinc and aluminum.
How does an air battery work?
Zn-air batteries generate electricity through the electrochemical reaction of Zn and oxygen. During discharge of the battery, Zn anode is oxidized and produces zincate and later changes to zinc oxide whilst, at the cathode, oxygen from the atmosphere undergoes reduction.
Are air batteries rechargeable?
Zinc-air batteries are typically not rechargeable. But using new materials, researchers have now built one of these devices that can be recharged hundreds of times.
What are metal-air batteries used for?
Abstract: Metal-air batteries have much higher theoretical energy density than lithium-ion batteries, and are frequently advocated as the solution toward next-generation electrochemical energy storage for applications including electric vehicles or grid energy storage.
Are lithium-air batteries possible?
Researchers have developed a lithium-air battery with an energy density over 500Wh/kg -- significantly higher than currently lithium ion batteries. The research team then confirmed that this battery can be charged and discharged at room temperature.
How long do aluminum air batteries last?
The result is an aluminum-air prototype with a much longer shelf life than that of conventional aluminum-air batteries. The researchers showed that when the battery was repeatedly used and then put on standby for one to two days, the MIT design lasted 24 days, while the conventional design lasted for only three.
What are the disadvantages of aluminum air battery?
Despite its low cost, simple operation, and reduced environmental impact, aluminum batteries based on aqueous or protic systems exhibit fatal drawbacks, such as the passivating oxide film formation decreasing the battery voltage and efficiency, hydrogen side reactions, and material corrosion.
Can metal air batteries be recharged?
Metal-air batteries can be visualized as a fuel cell which uses metal as fuel. A simple metal-air battery contains a metal anode, an air cathode which is open to air and a suitable electrolyte. In order to be used as an energy storage device, the battery must be electrically rechargeable.
Can I buy an iron air battery?
The company's “iron-air” batteries, which cost less than a tenth of lithium-ion batteries, can affordably store energy for days.
How do lithium air batteries work?
The lithium-air battery works by combining lithium ion with oxygen from the air to form lithium oxide at the positive electrode during discharge.
What company makes lithium air batteries?
The lithium-air battery market is consolidated with a limited number of players such as Poly Plus Battery Co., Mullen Technologies Inc., Lithium Air Industries, Inc., and Tesla, Inc. that are currently involved in the market.
Who invented lithium air batteries?
Abraham is a pioneer in the research and development of rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion batteries. His research to demonstrate a practical rechargeable lithium battery began in the late nineteen seventies when no such rechargeable batteries existed.
Are lithium air batteries rechargeable?
Rechargeable lithium–air batteries have a far higher theoretical energy density than lithium-ion batteries, and are, thus, expected to become a possible power source for electric vehicles (EVs). Three types of rechargeable lithium–air batteries have been developed: non-aqueous, aqueous, and solid.
Are lithium air batteries rechargeable?
Rechargeable lithium–air batteries have a far higher theoretical energy density than lithium-ion batteries, and are, thus, expected to become a possible power source for electric vehicles (EVs). Three types of rechargeable lithium–air batteries have been developed: non-aqueous, aqueous, and solid.
Are metal air batteries rechargeable?
A simple metal-air battery contains a metal anode, an air cathode which is open to air and a suitable electrolyte. In order to be used as an energy storage device, the battery must be electrically rechargeable.
Can lithium AA batteries be recharged?
Lithium batteries are primary cell batteries, which means they cannot be recharged once empty. They use the metal lithium as an anode. Lithium batteries have a high charge density, meaning they last longer than other batteries and can hold more power.
How does a lithium air battery work?
The lithium-air battery works by combining lithium ion with oxygen from the air to form lithium oxide at the positive electrode during discharge.
What is the lithium in an air battery?
A lithium–air battery contains a lithium electrode and porous air electrode separated by a membrane and an electrolyte (aqueous, aprotic, or solid). During discharging, lithium ions from the anode transport through the electrolyte to react with atmospheric oxygen at the cathode and form lithium peroxide:
What is the overpotential of a Li-air battery?
Generally speaking, the Li–air battery presents a modest overpotential of around 0.3 V for the discharge process, but a much higher overpotential of more than 1.0 V for the charge process [ 32 ]. Thus, developing an effective catalyst to reduce the overpotential of OER in nonaqueous solution is one of the critical issues for the Li–air battery. Similarly, the efficacy of the catalyst on charge is disputed as much as that on discharge currently. McCloskey et al. reported that no enhanced OER kinetics were detected in the presence of catalysts as the so-called catalyst only contributed to the electrolyte solvent decomposition rather than the OER [ 21 ]. Conversely, a number of studies demonstrated that the overpotential of OER was decreased due to the application of catalysts as the Li–air batteries were operated at a high capacity from 1000 to 5000 mA g c− 1 [ 33, 34 ]. As mentioned in the last section, Lu and Shao-Horn suggested that the catalyst on charge plays a crucially important role for the oxidation of bulk Li 2 O 2 at relatively high overpotential (e.g., > 1000 mV) [ 31 ]. Currently, catalysts on the charge process are concentrated on carbon-supported noble metals, as the primarily used catalysts in fuel cells; for example, the Au, Pt, and Ru nanoparticles supported on Vulcan carbon [ 35 ]. The investigation of nonprecious metals containing metal oxide, as promising candidates to be an effective and low-cost Li–air battery catalyst, could be a future trend [ 27, 36 ].
What electrolytes are used in lithium batteries?
Nonaqueous electrolytes have been widely used for primary and secondary lithium batteries since the late 1970s, and its application to lithium–air battery systems began to appear in publications in the late 1990s. Lithium salts dissolved in organic solvents and polymers have been proposed for use as the electrolyte. Ionic liquids are also promising as the electrolyte, because they are hydrophobic and less volatile than organic solvents. An air electrode for use in nonaqueous systems typically consists of conductive carbon materials with a high surface area, bound with a fluorocarbon polymer material. The product of the oxygen reduction reaction is either lithium oxide or lithium peroxide. A discharge voltage of around 2.7 V is obtained with an extremely large specific capacity of greater than 1 Ah g −1. Figure 7 shows an example of discharge profile with a very large capacity at a low discharge rate.
How does a lithium battery work?
The lithium-air battery works by combining lithium ion with oxygen from the air to form lithium oxide at the positive electrode during discharge. A recent novel flow cell concept involving lithium is proposed by Chiang et al. (2009). They proposed to use typical intercalation electrode materials as active anodes and cathode materials. These active materials are prepared by suspending lithium-based compounds in a liquid electrolyte to form a semi-solid suspension. These two different suspensions are then pumped into and out of a reaction chamber, which is separated by a thin porous membrane (Abraham and Jiang, 1996 ). The system is named a semi-solid flow cell (SSFC). They claimed a higher energy density compared with conventional aqueous flow cells due to the higher concentration of active materials in the solid component of the liquid suspension ( Duduta et al., 2011). The estimated energy density using established lithium intercalation compounds is around 130–250 Wh/kg in the optimised SSFC system, thus paving the way for widespread adoption in electric vehicles. This novel concept demonstrates that slurry type active materials can be used to store energy, and hence this will open a new field of research to find better cathode and anode active materials as well as electrolytes within the semi-solid flow system to lower the cost to enable wider applications.
What is the specific energy of a lithium battery?
The theoretical specific energy of the Li-oxygen cell, as shown with the above reactions, is 11.4 kWh/kg (excluding the weight of oxygen), the highest for a metal air battery. In addition to this very high specific energy, the lithium-air battery offers a high operating voltage, flat discharge voltage profile, environmental friendliness and relatively long storage life. A cell design utilizing a non-aqueous electrolyte alleviates the parasitic corrosion reactions of the Li anode that plagued past lithium-air batteries based on alkali aqueous electrolytes. This parasitic reaction involves the lithium metal reacting with the water to produce lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas, which is also a safety concern. The non-aqueous electrolyte-based cell design also overcomes safety concerns of the old aqueous Li-air system.
What is the discharge voltage of a lithium battery?
The actual discharge voltage of the aqueous lithium–air battery is between 2 and 3 V. Nonaqueous electrolytes have been widely used for primary and secondary lithium batteries since the late 1970s, and its application to lithium–air battery systems began to appear in publications in the late 1990s.
What is the gas in a lithium battery?
Lithium-air batteries consist of lithium metal anodes electrochemically coupled to atmospheric oxygen through an air cathode. Oxygen gas (O 2) introduced into the battery through the air cathode is essentially an unlimited cathode reactant source due to atmospheric air.
How does an air battery work?
As in the figure right, an aluminum air battery has air cathode which may be made of silver based catalyst and it helps to block CO 2 to enter in the battery but it allows O 2 to enter in the electrolyte. Then this oxygen reacts with H 2 O in KOH electrolyte solution takes electrons from solution and creates OH – ions. These ions then associate with Al anode and create Al (OH) 3 and release electrons. These electrons then flow to the air anode from aluminum cathode through the external circuit for compensating lack of electrons in the electrolyte solution due to cathode reduction reaction.
How to make an air battery?
Procedure of Making Simple Aluminum Air Battery. Just take a piece of aluminum foil and spread it on a table. In a pot make a saturated solution of water and salt. Take a piece of bloating paper. Get the piece of bloating paper soaked by saturated salt solution. Then get the soaked piece of bloating paper spread over the aluminum foil.
Why is aluminum air battery not commercially produced?
Despite this an aluminum air battery is not commercially produced, mainly due to the high production cost of the anode, as well as issues with corrosion of the aluminium anode due to the carbon dioxide in air. Because of this, use of this battery is restricted to mainly military applications. Aluminum air battery’s high energy density mean ...
What is the purpose of an aluminum battery?
In an aluminum air battery, aluminum is used as an anode, and air (the oxygen in the air) is used as cathode. This results in the energy density – i.e. energy produced per unit weight of the battery – very high compared to other conventional batteries. Despite this an aluminum air battery is not commercially produced, ...
What is the energy density of an air metal battery?
Aluminum air battery has very high energy density, it is as high as 300 Wh per one ib of aluminum. Its power density is also very high, around 30 Watt/lb. This type of battery cannot be electrically recharged. Basically this is a primary battery.
Can aluminum batteries be used in military applications?
Because of this, use of this battery is restricted to mainly military applications. Aluminum air battery’s high energy density mean that they have a high potential of being used in electrical vehicles. Making an aluminum air battery is quite simple – and can be done using simple household goods.
Can you make an air battery from aluminum?
Making an aluminum air battery is quite simple – and can be done using simple household goods. We’ll go over a DIY (Do It Yourself) guide to making an aluminum air battery.
What is a metal air battery?
Metal–air batteries are a mature family of primary and secondary cells. In metal–air batteries the positive electrode is carbon–based covering with some precious metals for reacting with oxygen. The other electrode is made of a metal such as zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and lithium. Since in these batteries, the air is flowing through the cell, ...
What are the advantages of metal air batteries?
Metal-air battery technologies (e.g., zinc-air, aluminium-air, lithium-air) are being developed. These batteries have valuable qualities that will benefit the UAV industry, for example, high-density power. Graphene cells, although not yet commercially available, also have potential for UAVs.
What is the specific energy density of a lithium battery?
The lithium/air battery has a theoretical specific energy density of 5000–11 000 Wh kg −1 depending on the nature of the electrolyte and reaction products ( Tables 1 and 2 ). Since lithium metal reacts rapidly with water, the geometric construction of a lithium/air battery is quite different from that of other metal/air batteries, including the commercial Zn/air cell. In the Zn/air battery, the anode consists of zinc metal slurry containing concentrated aqueous potassium hydroxide electrolyte. In the Zn/air battery, the basic electrolyte serves as an ionic medium and minimizes corrosion of the zinc metal by water and oxygen, and the product of cell reaction is also contained in the anode compartment whereas the cathode consists of a GDE that facilitates the oxygen reduction reaction.
What is the basic electrolyte of a Zn battery?
In the Zn/air battery, the basic electrolyte serves as an ionic medium and minimizes corrosion of the zinc metal by water and oxygen, and the product of cell reaction is also contained in the anode compartment whereas the cathode consists of a GDE that facilitates the oxygen reduction reaction. Table 2.
What is the specific energy of a cell?
The specific energy of the cell is as high as 75 Wh kg −1, which is too low to be compared with the theoretical specific energy, even though the practical cell involves positive electrode catalyst and electrolyte, which are not considered in a theoretical system.
How many miles can a lithium air battery drive?
This fact makes lithium–air attractive since by having a 50 kg battery pack, we can drive about 500 km with only one charge! That sounds very interesting.
Why is a post lithium battery still attractive?
This type of battery system is still very attractive as a post-lithium-ion battery because of its high theoretical specific energy. In order to realize the practical cell system with expected properties, every factor, from material preparation to cell fabrication, is required to be optimized.
Where does the power in an iron-air battery come from?
The power in an iron-air battery comes from the interaction of iron with oxygen. The steel oxidizes nearly exactly as it would during its corrosion phase within that procedure.
Why are iron batteries important?
Because both ferrous and sodium - the building blocks of alkali solutions - are highly abundant, they have a high potential for growth. Simultaneously, the ferrous electrodes are extremely durable, capable of withstanding over 10,000 full cycles.
How many cycles can a laminated iron battery last?
Researchers estimated that the batteries could be produced in a 400 cm2 electrode area module with a specific capacity of 140 W h kg-1 capable of 1000 cycles of US$30 (kg h)-1.
What are the obstacles to the implementation of effective metal-air cells?
One of the obstacles to the implementation of effective metal-air cells is the lack of a counter electrode capable of withstanding large positive potentials throughout oxygen advancement.
How long does an iron oxygen battery last?
This equates to a life span of around 30 years. Iron-oxygen batteries are also resilient to overcharging, overcurrent, and partial discharge. A rechargeable iron-oxygen battery is able to supply 100 hours of energy at operating cost compared to traditional power stations and less than a tenth of the price of lithium-ion batteries.
Why was research on iron air cells put on hold?
For a long period, research on iron-air cells was put on hold due to intractable technological hurdles. However, in recent times, there has been a tremendous surge in study interest.
How many electrodes does a ferrous oxygen battery have?
In a planar parallel arrangement, ferrous–oxygen batteries typically have two air- breathing electrodes with one metal electrode inside . During the cycles of charge-discharge, the oxygen ions in the regenerative iron-air cell are intended to achieve both advancement and elimination of oxygen.
Overview
The lithium–air battery (Li–air) is a metal–air electrochemical cell or battery chemistry that uses oxidation of lithium at the anode and reduction of oxygen at the cathode to induce a current flow.
Pairing lithium and ambient oxygen can theoretically lead to electrochemical cells with the highest possible specific energy. Indeed, the theoretical specific energy of a non-aqueous Li–air battery, in the charged state with Li2O2 product and excluding the oxygen mass, is ~40.1 MJ/kg = 11.14 kW…
History
Originally proposed in the 1970s as a possible power source for battery electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles, Li–air batteries recaptured scientific interest late in the first decade of the 2000s due to advances in materials science.
Although the idea of a lithium–air battery was around long before 1996, the risk-to-benefit ratio was perceived as too high to pursue. Indeed, both the negative (lithium metal) and the positive (…
Design and operation
In general lithium ions move between the anode and the cathode across the electrolyte. Under discharge, electrons follow the external circuit to do electric work and the lithium ions migrate to the cathode. During charge the lithium metal plates onto the anode, freeing O 2 at the cathode. Both non-aqueous (with Li2O2 or LiO2 as the discharge products) and aqueous (LiOH as the discharge …
Challenges
As of 2013, many challenges confronted designers.
Most Li–air battery limits are at the cathode, which is also the source of its potential advantages. Incomplete discharge due to blockage of the porous carbon cathode with discharge products such as lithium peroxide (in aprotic designs) is the most serious. Several modes of precipitates were modeled. A parameter, Da, was defined to measure the variations of temperature, species …
Applications
Li–air cells are of interest for electric vehicles, because of their high theoretical specific and volumetric energy density, comparable to petrol. Electric motors provide high efficiency (95% compared to 35% for an internal combustion engine). Li–air cells could offer range equivalent to today's vehicles with a battery pack one-third the size of standard fuel tanks assuming the balance of plant required to maintain the battery was of negligible mass or volume.
See also
• List of battery types
• Lithium-ion battery
• Lithium iron phosphate battery
• Lithium polymer battery
• Lithium-ion flow battery
External links
• Argonne opens chapter in battery research – lithium air
• Argonne advanced battery research driving to displace gasoline
• The IBM Battery 500 Project
• PolyPlus battery company
Overview
Zinc–air batteries (non-rechargeable), and zinc–air fuel cells (mechanically rechargeable) are metal–air batteries powered by oxidizing zinc with oxygen from the air. These batteries have high energy densities and are relatively inexpensive to produce. Sizes range from very small button cells for hearing aids, larger batteries used in film cameras that previously used mercury batteries, to very la…
History
The effect of oxygen was known early in the 19th century when wet-cell Leclanche batteries absorbed atmospheric oxygen into the carbon cathode current collector. In 1878, a porous platinized carbon air electrode was found to work as well as the manganese dioxide (MnO 2) of the Leclanche cell. Commercial products began to be made on this principle in 1932 when George W. Heise and Erwin A. Schumacher of the National Carbon Company built cells, treating the carbon e…
Reaction formulas
The chemical equations for the zinc–air cell are:
Anode: (E0 = －1.25 V) Fluid: Cathode: (E0 = 0.34 V pH＝11) Overall (E0 = 1.59 V)
Zinc–air batteries cannot be used in a sealed battery holder since some air must come in; the oxygen in 1 liter of air is required for every ampere-hour of capacity used.
Storage density
Zinc–air batteries have higher energy density than many other types of battery because atmospheric air is one of the battery reactants, in contrast to battery types that require a material such as manganese dioxide in combination with zinc. Energy density, when measured by weight (mass) is known as specific energy. The following table shows the calculation of specific energy for a specific zinc-air battery and several other commonly available batteries of different chemis…
Storage and operating life
Zinc–air cells have long shelf life if sealed to keep air out; even miniature button cells can be stored for up to 3 years at room temperature with little capacity loss if their seal is not removed. Industrial cells stored in a dry state have an indefinite storage life.
The operating life of a zinc–air cell is a critical function of its interaction with its environment. The electrolyte loses water more rapidly in conditions of high temperature and low humidity. Becaus…
Discharge properties
Because the cathode does not change properties during discharge, terminal voltage is quite stable until the cell approaches exhaustion.
Power capacity is a function of several variables: cathode area, air availability, porosity, and the catalytic value of the cathode surface. Oxygen entry into the cell must be balanced against electrolyte water loss; cathode membranes are coated with (hydrophobic) Teflon material to limi…
Cell types
Large zinc–air batteries, with capacities up to 2,000 ampere–hours per cell, are used to power navigation instruments and marker lights, oceanographic experiments and railway signals.
Primary cells are made in button format to about 1 Ah. Prismatic shapes for portable devices are manufactured with capacities between 5 and 30 Ah. Hybr…
Materials
Cobalt oxide/carbon nanotube hybrid oxygen reduction catalyst and nickel-iron layered double hydroxide oxygen evolution cathode catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity and durability in concentrated alkaline electrolytes than precious metal platinum and iridium catalysts. The resulting primary zinc–air battery showed peak power density of ~265 mW/cm , current density of ~200 mA/cm at 1 V and energy density >700 Wh/kg.