Zinc-Air Batteries for Stationary Electricity Storage
ZABSES
The ZABSES project’s goal is to improve the cyclability and to lower the cost of zinc-air batteries for stationary applications. This should lead to better cell design, which is able to compete with Li-ion batteries when considering stationary use cases. In addition, zinc-air electrochemical cells have several advantages: largely available and environmentally friendly raw materials, recyclability, low flammability and toxicity.
Zinc-air battery chemistry (schematic)
Credit:
Noah Lettner
To achieve this goal, several teething problems must be addressed. Besides the formation of Zn dendrites, which may cause short circuits, and the low efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the gas diffusion cathode, the degradation of the electrolyte through formation of solid carbonate caused by the carbon dioxide in the air poses a problem to the cyclability of zinc-air batteries. Being a Germano-French research project, ZABSES brings together five partners from research and industry, SunErgy (France), LPPI, Cergy University (France), ZSW (Ulm), Varta Microbattery (Germany), DLR (Ulm). We at the DLR support our project partners with insights gained from simulations, helping in understand the physicochemical processes in the battery cell with the goal of iterative optimisation of electrodes, electrolyte and the overall cell performance. This research is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the frame of the project “Zinc-Air Batteries for Stationary Electricity Storage” (Grant number: 03XP0505A).
DLR is supporting the project partners with models and simulations that can be used to visualise and understand the physico-chemical processes in the battery cell. The aim is to enable iterative optimisation of electrodes, electrolytes and ultimately the overall cell performance. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Zinc-air batteries for stationary electricity storage" project (funding reference: 03XP0505A).
Selective membrane transport
Credit:
Noah Lettner
ZABSES at a glance
Project
ZABSES (Zinc-Air Batteries for Stationary Electricity Storage)
