(372c) Green Synthesis of Zinc Sponge Opens Sustainable Battery Supply Chains
AIChE Annual Meeting
2020
2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting
Engineering Sciences and Fundamentals
Electrochemical Fundamentals: Faculty Candidate Session II
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 8:30am to 8:45am
Scientists have devoted significant efforts highlighting the need for batteries that enable the use of sustainable energy sources such as wind and solar but have paid much less attention to the need for sustainable batteries. We seek to identify sustainable, rechargeable batteries and to create simplified, high-performance, low-cost battery electrodes. To identify promising candidates, we review supply-risk data and the abundance of battery-relevant elements in the Earthâs upper continental crust. We find that of the rechargeable-battery chemistries that rely on abundant low-risk elements, zinc (Zn) batteries, namely ZnâMnO2 and Znâair, are the lowest cost and most energy dense. Guided by this analysis, we advance Zn batteries by reporting a green synthesis that lowers the cost of rechargeable Zn-sponge electrodes by 74%. We test these electrodes in Znâair cells and demonstrate a 3,200% increase in rechargeable areal capacity over the majority of previously reported work.