Song Zhishuang, Liu Xiaorui, Ding Jia, Liu Jie, Han Xiaopeng, Deng Yida, Zhong Cheng, Hu Wenbin
Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin300072, China.
Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, Fuzhou350207, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Oct 27. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c14470.
The rapid development of portable, flexible, and wearable devices motivates the requirement for flexible zinc-air batteries (FZABs) not only to provide high energy density but also to have sufficient deformability for wearer comfort. The gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) serves as the core part of the FZABs, playing a key function in the battery's practical output performance such as discharge voltage, energy density, and cycling life. Unfortunately, ascribed to its high water absorption, the GPE regularly shows comparatively poor mechanical strength, which is difficult to offer sufficient physical support between electrodes. Herein, we report an optimized poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-based composite GPE with the aluminum oxide (AlO) filler and apply it for FZAB. The mechanical strength, electrolyte absorption capacity, electrolyte retention ability, and ionic conductivity of the PAA-AlO gel polymers and corresponding GPEs were investigated. The results indicate that the above performances of polymers and corresponding GPEs depend to a considerable extent on the content of the addition of AlO particles. When 20 wt.% AlO is added to the PAA polymer, the obtained PAA-20 wt.% AlO gel polymer exhibits improved mechanical strength. The corresponding PAA-20 wt.% AlO GPE shows a high ionic conductivity of 186 mS cm and pleasurable electrolyte retention capability. This optimized GPE enables the assembled FZAB to display a long cycling lifetime of 384 h, a large power density of 77.7 mW cm, and excellent discharge performance. Moreover, the integrated FZAB can power various electronic devices, demonstrating its outstanding practicability and extensibility as a flexible power source.
便携式、柔性及可穿戴设备的快速发展，促使人们对柔性锌空气电池（FZAB）提出了要求，不仅要提供高能量密度，还要具备足够的可变形性以确保佩戴舒适。凝胶聚合物电解质（GPE）作为FZAB的核心部件，在电池的实际输出性能（如放电电压、能量密度和循环寿命）中起着关键作用。不幸的是，由于其高吸水性，GPE通常表现出相对较差的机械强度，难以在电极之间提供足够的物理支撑。在此，我们报道了一种优化的基于聚丙烯酸（PAA）的复合GPE，其含有氧化铝（AlO）填料，并将其应用于FZAB。研究了PAA-AlO凝胶聚合物及相应GPE的机械强度、电解质吸收能力、电解质保留能力和离子电导率。结果表明，聚合物及相应GPE的上述性能在很大程度上取决于AlO颗粒的添加量。当向PAA聚合物中添加20 wt.%的AlO时，所得的PAA-20 wt.% AlO凝胶聚合物表现出改善的机械强度。相应的PAA-20 wt.% AlO GPE显示出186 mS cm的高离子电导率和良好的电解质保留能力。这种优化的GPE使组装的FZAB能够展现出384 h的长循环寿命、77.7 mW cm的大功率密度和优异的放电性能。此外，集成的FZAB可为各种电子设备供电，展示了其作为柔性电源的出色实用性和扩展性。
