ZABSES: a new French-German research project on Zinc-air technology
In partnership with the German research institutions ZSW and DLR, the German battery manufacturer Varta Microbattery, and the French academic laboratory LPPI (CY Cergy Paris University), Sunergy will take part in a new project concerning the development of Zinc-air batteries.
The ZABSES project aims at demonstrating that a rechargeable alkaline Zinc-air battery technology could be more advantageous than the state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries for stationary electricity storage. Indeed, the Zinc-air technology, which is used for decades in primary batteries, presents a lot of advantages:
Made of abundant, environmentally friendly and robust materials
No safety issues
Easy recycling
Auspicious life cycle costs
However, the formation of Zn dendrites promoting detrimental short circuits, the low efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the formation of solid carbonate deposit in the positive electrode limit to date the cyclability of rechargeable Zinc-air batteries.
With complementary fields of expertise, the 5 partners will improve the Zinc-air technology towards the construction of a prototype (TRL 4).
Sunergy will focus on the zinc electrode, building on the results obtained during the AZTEQUE project in which a zinc electrode quadrupling the surface capacity from 100 mAh∙cm² to 400 mAh∙cm² with up to 1300 cycles was demonstrated.
LPPI will develop a membrane for the reduction of carbonation.
ZSW will design a bifunctional (ORR/OER) air cathode.
DLR will perform modelling of cell performance and degradation.
Varta Microbattery will provide support with its expertise in aqueous alkaline battery design, development and testing.
