Enhancing Al-Air Battery Performance with Beta-d-Glucose and Adonite Additives: A Combined Electrochemical and Theoretical Study.

Al-air batteries are distinguished by their high theoretical energy density, yet their broader application is hindered by hydrogen evolution corrosion. This research focuses Beta (+) d-glucose (S1) and Adonite (S2) as potential corrosion inhibitors for the Al-5052 alloy within a 4 M NaOH solution. Utilizing electrochemical techniques, hydrogen evolution assessments, and surface analyses, our findings indicate enhancements in anode utilization by 21.9% for S1 and 21.1% for S2. Inhibition efficiency reached 65.5% for S1 and 65.1% for both additives at a concentration of 10-3 M. Additionally, the introduction of S1 and S2 markedly increased the nominal specific capacity (654 mA h g for S1 and 629 mA h g for S2) and energy density (1922 W h kg for S1 and 1849 W h kg for S2) of the batteries. These results suggest that managing the electrolyte composition with these additives can significantly enhance battery performance in alkaline environments. Supporting our experimental findings, density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) analyses confirmed improved anode passivation and beneficial molecular interactions, contributing to the reduction of corrosion in the Al-5052 alloy.