Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries: Advances, Challenges, and Prospects

Rechargeable zinc–air batteries (Re‐ZABs) are one of the most promising next‐generation batteries that can hold more energy while being cost‐effective and safer than existing devices. Nevertheless, zinc dendrites, non‐portability, and limited charge–discharge cycles have long been obstacles to the c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2024-01, Vol.20 (4), p.e2306396-n/a
Main Authors: Lv, Xian‐Wei, Wang, Zhongli, Lai, Zhuangzhuang, Liu, Yuping, Ma, Tianyi, Geng, Jianxin, Yuan, Zhong‐Yong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
air cathodes
Aqueous electrolytes
battery configurations
Cathodes
challenges and perspectives
Commercialization
Configurations
Diffusion layers
Electrochemistry
electrode engineering
Electrolytes
Energy consumption
Gaseous diffusion
Metal air batteries
Portability
Rechargeable batteries
rechargeable zinc–air batteries
zinc anodes
Zinc-oxygen batteries
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Rechargeable zinc–air batteries (Re‐ZABs) are one of the most promising next‐generation batteries that can hold more energy while being cost‐effective and safer than existing devices. Nevertheless, zinc dendrites, non‐portability, and limited charge–discharge cycles have long been obstacles to the commercialization of Re‐ZABs. Over the past 30 years, milestone breakthroughs have been made in technical indicators (safety, high energy density, and long battery life), battery components (air cathode, zinc anode, and gas diffusion layer), and battery configurations (flexibility and portability), however, a comprehensive review on advanced design strategies for Re‐ZABs system from multiple angles is still lacking. This review underscores the progress and strategies proposed so far to pursuit the high‐efficiency Re‐ZABs system, including the aspects of rechargeability (from primary to rechargeable), air cathode (from unifunctional to bifunctional), zinc anode (from dendritic to stable), electrolytes (from aqueous to non‐aqueous), battery configurations (from non‐portable to portable), and industrialization progress (from laboratorial to practical). Critical appraisals of the advanced modification approaches (such as surface/interface modulation, nanoconfinement catalysis, defect electrochemistry, synergistic electrocatalysis, etc.) are highlighted for cost‐effective flexible Re‐ZABs with good sustainability and high energy density. Finally, insights are further rendered properly for the future research directions of advanced zinc–air batteries. Rechargeable zinc–air batteries are of great significance among metal‐air battery chemistries. However, their commercialization still has a long way to go due to unresolved shortcomings such as zinc dendrites, non‐portability, low cycle performance, and so on. Advanced and practical strategies to tackle these challenges are systematically summarized from multiple angles: rechargeability, air cathodes, zinc anodes, electrolytes, and battery configurations, aiming to provide some value guidance for the rapid development of zinc–air batteries.
ISSN:1613-6810
1613-6829
1613-6829
DOI:10.1002/smll.202306396