Air Cathode in Zinc-Air Battery－New Electrode Structure and Novel Carbon Support/Catalyst

• Main Authors: Yuan-Fa Chi, 紀元發
• Other Authors: Tsung-Shune Chin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/93477210402646154965

碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 材料科學工程學系 === 93 === The performance, manufacture cost and durability of air cathodes are key issues in metal-air battery. Two major innovations were proposed in this research. The combination of Ni foam and stainless steel as current collectror is the first one. It results in both high electrochemical performance and good mechanical strength. The second one is the adoption of bamboo carbon into catalyst layer as a novel carbon support/ catalyst. In order to optimize the air cathode, linear sweep voltametry (LSV), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were conducted to examine the electrochemical performance, surface morphology and lattice structure, respectively. According to cathodic polarization results, under -0.4 VHg/HgO, the combination of Ni foam and stainless steel revealed 75 % higher and 10 % lower in current density compared to stainless steel and Ni foam alone, respectively. In addition, the new electrode structure performed much better mechanical strength than does Ni foam alone. The new electrode structure could provide both the high electrochemical performance and good mechanical strength demanded by large area/current applications. The usage of bamboo carbon into activation layer as novel carbon support/catalyst was supposed to be a good innovation. Under -0.4 VHg/HgO, the current density was about 161.4 mA/cm2, at least 25 % enhancement was achieved compared to the conventional others. On the other hand, the use of MnO2, LiCoO2 and spinel-type oxides as catalyst was considered to be of little help for cathodes composed of porous carbon. It requires to further studies.