With the global surge in lithium-ion battery (LIB) usage rapidly exhausting raw material supplies, experts are on the lookout for safe, cost-effective, and dependable alternatives for rechargeable batteries. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) appear to be a promising solution for creating affordable options from plentiful resources. Researchers at Flinders University are leading the charge in developing straightforward and efficient polymer AZIBs that utilize organic cathodes, paving the way for a more sustainable approach to energy storage technology.
With the global surge in lithium-ion batteries fast depleting raw material supplies, experts are on the lookout for safe, cost-effective, and dependable alternatives for rechargeable batteries.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) seem to provide a feasible solution by offering low-cost options derived from widely available materials. Scientists at Flinders University are innovating practical polymer AZIBs featuring organic cathodes to enhance sustainability in energy storage.
“Aqueous zinc-ion batteries could have real-world applications,” shares Associate Professor in Chemistry Zhongfan Jia, a nanotechnology researcher at Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering.
The rising demand for lithium-ion batteries, driven by electric vehicles and portable electronics, has led to shortages of key materials like lithium and cobalt, creating supply chain challenges.
Simultaneously, a massive number of discarded batteries, most of which go unrecycled, pose significant waste and environmental hazards—a problem that alternatives such as AZIBs aim to resolve.
“AZIBs are particularly promising because zinc is much more abundant in the earth’s crust (ten times that of lithium), plus they have low toxicity and are quite safe,” emphasizes Jia.
Typically, AZIBs utilize zinc metal as an anode and either inorganic or organic compounds as cathodes. While considerable efforts have been focused on enhancing the stability of zinc anodes, there’s still a pressing need for high-performance cathodes, which presents a substantial challenge.
“Our research focuses on improving conductivity with nitroxide radical polymer cathodes made from inexpensive commercial polymers, while also optimizing battery performance using cost-effective additives,” explains Associate Professor Jia, who heads a research group dedicated to Sustainable Polymers for Energy and the Environment.
“Our findings reevaluate the application of high redox potential nitroxide radical polymer cathodes in AZIBs, achieving the highest mass loading to date,” he mentions regarding a recent article published online in the Journal of Power Resources.
The study, spearheaded by Flinders master’s student Nanduni Gamage and postdoc fellow Dr. Yanlin Shi, successfully created a lab-designed pouch battery utilizing scaled-up polymers (costing approximately $20 per kg), a non-fluoro Zn(ClO4)2 electrolyte, and BP 2000 carbon black ($1/kg) without a binder, yielding a capacity of nearly 70 mAh g-1 with a typical discharge voltage of 1.4 V.
With a mass loading of 50 mg cm-2, the pouch battery demonstrated a capacity of 60 mAh, sufficient to operate a small electric fan or a model car (videos are included in the article).
Involved in this study were collaborators such as Dr. Jesús Santos-Peña, from the Université Paris Est Créteil CNRS in France, along with other experts from the Flinders University Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.
The article “Converting a low-cost industrial polymer into organic cathodes for high mass-loading aqueous zinc-ion batteries” (2024) by Nanduni SW Gamage, Yanlin Shi, Chanaka J Mudugamuwa, Jesús Santos-Peña, David A Lewis, Justin M Chalker, and Zhongfan Jia has been published in Energy Storage Materials. DOI: 10.1016/j.ensm.2024.103731.
Additionally, in partnership with Griffith University, the team has recently created organic radical/K dual-ion batteries, a method that may further reduce reliance on lithium-ion batteries.