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

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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.