Fabrication of a Jelly-rolled Zinc Anode for Mechanically Rechargeable Zinc–air Batteries and Its Discharging Properties

Abstract

Mechanically rechargeable zinc-air batteries (MR-ZABs), in which the zinc anodes of the zinc-air batteries can be mechanically replaced, are attracting attention. The zinc anode of MR-ZAB must be easily replaceable, but with the conventional zinc anode using zinc powder, there is concern about clogging of the zinc powder, and it is difficult to remove the zinc oxide adhered inside the battery after use.

Therefore, we propose a method to make it easier to attach and remove the zinc anode by using the core as a zinc carrier and integrating it with the zinc. In addition, the zinc oxide that was produced by discharging reaction can be reused as a zinc anode by reducing it on the core metal with a separate plating tank. The results of this study show that the use of a metal core as a zinc carrier enables fuel replacement and repeated utilization of the metal core. It was also observed that the discharge performance was higher than with zinc powder due to better contact with the current collector. Furthermore, the amount of zinc produced can be varied by changing the feed rate and the length of the charging tank to match the amount of zinc used.