A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has achieved a breakthrough in zinc batteries, extending their lifespan from thousands to hundreds of thousands of charge and discharge cycles. This improvement could position zinc batteries as a cost-effective and more sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries in large-scale storage.
The breakthrough is due to an ultra-thin protective layer on the zinc anodes that prevents common problems such as dendrite growth, structures that shorten lifespan and affect performance. This special coating, made from a porous organic polymer called TpBD-2F, protects the anode from contact with water, allowing zinc ions to flow through nanochannels efficiently .
Zinc anodes extend battery life
Da Lei, a PhD student and principal investigator on the project, said zinc-ion batteries with this new coating could replace lithium batteries in renewable energy installations , such as solar or wind power plants , due to their long life, safety, and the lower cost and availability of zinc compared to lithium, which has a greater environmental impact and represents a higher cost in large-scale applications.
Professor Roland A. Fischer, who leads the team at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at TUM, said that they have already developed a prototype of a button cell and that the results have been controllable and replicable. Now, the next step is up to the engineers, who will have to translate these findings into large-scale production processes in order to make their application on the market a reality.
This breakthrough represents a leap forward in zinc battery research and could usher in a more sustainable approach to energy storage, crucial to the adoption of renewable energy sources .
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Source and internal photo: Technical University of Munich
Main photo: Shutterstock
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