Water-based zinc battery is expected to replace lithium battery

U.S. researchers have developed a rechargeable water-based zinc battery that not only has a large capacity, a long life, but is also safer, and is expected to become an ideal replacement for widely used Lithium Batteries.

For batteries, small size, large capacity, long life, high safety, and low manufacturing cost are all desirable quality requirements, but batteries with these characteristics are still difficult to find. Take lithium batteries, which are widely used in consumer electronics products, although they are remarkable in terms of capacity, size, and life, the explosion risk has caused many people to criticize them.

And this time, a research team composed of researchers from the University of Maryland, the Army Research Laboratory, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, combined traditional zinc cell technology with water cell technology to develop greater capacity and higher safety. rechargeable battery. They use a new type of aqueous electrolyte to replace the flammable organic electrolyte used in traditional lithium-ion batteries, greatly improving the safety of the battery; and by adding metal zinc and adding salt in the electrolyte, the energy density of the battery is effectively improved.

Researchers point out that zinc batteries are safe and relatively low-cost batteries, but they have low energy density and short lifespan, so they are not perfect. The new water-based zinc battery overcomes these shortcomings of traditional zinc batteries, not only greatly increasing the energy density of the battery, but also extending the battery life. Compared with lithium batteries, water-based zinc batteries can not only be higher in energy density, but also much safer, without the risk of explosion or fire.

Researchers are confident about the commercialization of new water-based zinc batteries. They said that the new type of battery can not only be used in consumer electronics products and become a powerful contender for lithium batteries. It can also be used in extreme environments such as space and the deep sea. It can be used in aerospace, deep-sea exploration and military applications.

The relevant research results were published in the latest issue of Nature Materials. (Reporter Liu Haiying)