Mechanism

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Zinc air batteries are not a new technology, they have been on the market for several decades, however, until recently the possibility of making these types of batteries in an economical and rechargeable way has been entered. These batteries are typically formed by a metal anode, a membrane separator, an electrolyte and a bifunctional air cathode, usually as an electrolyte, alkaline solutions such as concentrated potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide are usually used.

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Capacities y lifecycle

 

The energy efficiency of the zinc-air rechargeable battery is mainly related to catalytic activation, which results in a problem because very expensive catalysts such as those based on platinum and iridium oxide are used.However, in recent years different universities have been investigating bifunctional electro catalysts that allow the development of redox reactions of oxygen (oxygen reduction and generation) such as carbon nanostructure materials, transition metal oxides and inorganic / organic composites with in order to reduce manufacturing costs and that the use of these batteries can be expanded. These have 60 cycles of loading and unloading with a duration of 120 hours, its price is around $ 100 per kWh.

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Applications

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This type of batteries can be used for the backup of micro electric networks, transport applications such as electric cars, buses and trams, as well as electric motorcycles by scaling them.

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Advantage

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Among the advantages of this type of rechargeable batteries is that they are considered as green energy sources due to their high energy density and low pollution, can store five times more energy and do not need cooling systems because they do not present a risk of fire

 

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Disadvantages

 

Among its disadvantages is that depending on the type of catalyst used to recharge them can be expensive and that the loss of effectiveness of these is located near 10%.

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Project: ZAESS Project