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

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。位于多伦多-安大略省的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整体存储成本，但带来了一个独特的挑战，即呼吸空气的阴极必须在巨大的静水压力下运行，这可能会导致商用阴极的早期机械故障。与滑铁卢大学的Pope Group合作，e-Zince旨在设计一种全新的阴极，在保持性能的同时可以抵抗更高的压力。该团队将调查现有和新阴极设计的失效模式，以绘制出规模化系统的性能极限。该项目的成功将有助于电子锌更快地商业化，从而提高微电网的能源利用效率--特别是对非电网社区而言。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, located in Toronto-Ontario, 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 which can cause early mechanical failure of commercially available cathodes. In collaboration with the Pope Group at the University of Waterloo, e-Zinc aims to design a completely new cathode which can resist even higher pressures while maintaining performance. The team will investigate failure modes of the current and new cathode designs in order to map out performance limits of scaled systems. The success of this project will help e-Zinc to more rapidly commercialize which will enable improved 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.