Development of coatings for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrode for zinc-air batteries

公众对温室气体排放导致的全球气候变化的认识，促使风能和太阳能等可再生能源的利用不断增加，而且还将进一步增加。这些能源本质上是间歇性的，因此需要有效的方法来储存电力以供以后使用。高效可靠的电化学能量存储和转换装置是采用这些替代能源的关键组成部分。这些装置是用来储存化学能的介质，这些化学能稍后可以转换回电能。拟议的项目代表了申请人和Zinc8能源解决方案之间的合作努力，他们正在开发一种这样的设备。Zinc8生产锌-空气再生燃料电池系统，也被称为锌-空气混合液流电池。锌，以颗粒的形式，是电池的燃料，并作为悬浮液在氢氧化钾（KOH）电解质中保存在存储容器中，直到需要。当需要电力时，锌/KOH悬浮液被送到电源堆与氧气结合产生电力。该过程的副产物是氧化锌（ZnO），氧化锌被送到再生器转化回锌。锌再生过程中产生氧气（析氧反应）并排放到大气中。该项目的目标是提高氧化锌再生锌的效率和可靠性，主要是通过改进用于制造析氧反应电极的材料和工艺。最终，电池充放电循环次数需要从~2000次增加到接近1,000,000次。

Public awareness of global climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emission has led to increasing utilization of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, with further increases on the horizon. These sources are inherently intermittent in nature, necessitating effective methods of storing power for later use. Efficient and reliable electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices are a key component to adopting these alternative energy sources. These devices are the media used to store chemical energy that can be later converted back to electricity. The proposed project represents a collaborative effort between the applicant and Zinc8 Energy Solutions, who are developing one such device. Zinc8 produces zinc-air regenerative fuel cell systems, which are also known as zinc-air hybrid flow batteries. Zinc, in the form of particles, is the fuel for the battery and is maintained in a storage vessel as a suspension in a potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte until needed. When electrical power is required, the zinc/KOH suspension is sent to a power stack to combine with oxygen to produce electricity. The by-product of the process is zinc oxide (ZnO) which is sent to a regenerator for conversion back to zinc. Oxygen gas is produced (oxygen evolution reaction) during zinc regeneration and is discharged to the atmosphere. The goal of this project is to improve the efficiency and reliability of zinc regeneration from ZnO, primarily through improvements to the materials and processes used to fabricate the electrode for the oxygen evolution reaction. Ultimately the number of battery charge/discharge cycles needs to be increased from ~2000 to a value approaching 1,000,000.