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A Robust Hybrid Zn-Battery with Ultralong Cycle Life.

Bing LiJunye QuanAdeline LohJianwei ChaiYe ChenChaoliang TanXiaoming GeT S Andy HorZhaolin LiuHua ZhangYun Zong
Published in: Nano letters (2016)
Advanced batteries with long cycle life and capable of harnessing more energies from multiple electrochemical reactions are both fundamentally interesting and practically attractive. Herein, we report a robust hybrid zinc-battery that makes use of transition-metal-based redox reaction (M-O-OH → M-O, M = Ni and Co) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to deliver more electrochemical energies of comparably higher voltage with much longer cycle life. The hybrid battery was constructed using an integrated electrode of NiCo2O4 nanowire arrays grown on carbon-coated nickel foam, coupled with a zinc plate anode in alkaline electrolyte. Benefitted from the M-O/M-O-OH redox reactions and rich ORR active sites in NiCo2O4, the battery has concurrently exhibited high working voltage (by M-O-OH → M-O) and high energy density (by ORR). The good oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of the electrode and the reversible M-O ↔ M-O-OH reactions also enabled smooth recharging of the batteries, leading to excellent cycling stabilities. Impressively, the hybrid batteries maintained highly stable charge-discharge voltage profile under various testing conditions, for example, almost no change was observed over 5000 cycles at a current density of 5 mA cm-2 after some initial stabilization. With merits of higher working voltage, high energy density, and ultralong cycle life, such hybrid batteries promise high potential for practical applications.
Keyphrases
  • solid state
  • transition metal
  • electron transfer
  • ionic liquid
  • density functional theory
  • oxide nanoparticles
  • machine learning
  • carbon nanotubes
  • big data
  • heavy metals
  • molecular dynamics
  • deep learning