Development of robust cathodes for pressurized, gravity-driven zinc-air batteries - Part II

离网社区和工业场所，如安大略省北部的社区和工业场所，通常主要和备用电力都依赖柴油发电机。这些发电机会造成空气和噪音污染，并排放温室气体。E-Zinc正在商业化一种低成本、安全和环保的锌空气电池，这种电池可以与太阳能/风能一起集成到微电网中，并旨在提供长时间的能量(&gt；24小时)。这些系统可以完全消除对柴油发电机的需求。电子锌电池的重力驱动设计降低了抽水和总体存储成本，但带来了一个独特的挑战，因为呼吸空气的阴极必须在巨大的静液压力下运行。在滑铁卢大学Pope Group的合作下，e-Zince旨在设计一种全新的阴极设计，可以在扩大系统尺寸时抵抗更高的压力。在该团队展示了一种前景看好的概念验证空气阴极的初步工作的基础上，该团队将研究新的方法，以减少电极泛滥，更稳定的催化剂，并提高用于从生物质衍生聚合物树脂制造阴极的基于激光的新方法的生产能力。该项目的成功将有助于e-Zinc更快地扩大其系统规模，并提高微电网的能源利用效率--特别是对离网社区而言。除了制造新的空气阴极和规模化锌空气电池将带来预期的经济效益和增加的就业机会外，预计污染和温室气体的预期减少将对所有加拿大人--特别是离网社区的人--产生积极影响。

Off-grid communities and industrial sites, such as those in Northern Ontario, often rely on diesel powered generators for both primary and back-up power. These generators contribute to air and noise pollution and emit greenhouse gases. e-Zinc is commercializing a low cost, safe and environmentally benign, zinc-air battery which can be integrated into micro-grids with solar/wind power and are designed to deliver energy for long-durations (> 24h). These systems can eliminate the need for diesel generators altogether. The gravity driven design of e-Zinc's battery reduces pumping and overall storage costs but leads to a unique challenge in that the air-breathing cathodes must operate under large hydrostatic pressures. In collaboration with the Pope Group at the University of Waterloo, e-Zinc aims to design a completely new cathode design which can resist even higher pressures as they scale up the size of their system. Expanding on the team's initial work which showcased a promising proof-of-concept air-cathode, the team will investigate new methods to reduce electrode flooding, more stable catalysts and improve the throughput of the novel laser-based production approach used to create the cathodes from a biomass-derived polymer resin. The success of this project will help e-Zinc to more rapidly scale their system and to improve energy utilization efficiency of micro-grids - in particular for off-grid communities. In addition to the expected economic benefits and increased job opportunities that will arise in manufacturing the new air cathodes and scaled zinc-air batteries, the expected reduction in pollution and greenhouse gases are expected to positively impact all Canadians - in particular those in off-grid communities.