Preparation and properties of flexible integrated cathode and electrolyte all-gel zinc-air batteries

Zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are of great interest in meeting the growing demand for flexible portable electronics due to their high energy density and low cost. In this paper, the interfacial dry crosslinking strategy is adopted, in which the dehydrated air cathode spontaneously absorbs water from the surface and inside of the electrolyte under the combined action of osmotic pressure and hydrophilic amide group, and the full gel integrating cathode and electrolyte is obtained by the interfacial dry crosslinking method of hydrogen bond adsorption. After water absorption, the conductive gel dry film electrode softens again, and a fusion interface is formed between the electrode and the electrolyte, and the integrated full gel is the best material for flexible batteries, which plays a vital role in the mechanical and electrochemical properties of the battery. In this paper, a polyacrylamide-based (PAM) all-in-one full gel with an optimal monomer content of 30 wt% is synthesized and used for bendable flexible packaging ZAB. The prepared ZAB exhibits good cycle stability of 177 h, excellent battery rate performance, stable discharge performance (high gram capacity of 785.16 mAh g- 1), relatively high maximum power density (111.0 mW cm-2), and low interfacial contact impedance. With this 30 wt% all-in-one gel assembly soft pack ZAB can power a wide range of electronic devices and exhibit excellent flexibility in a wide range of bending conditions.

Automated summary

This study presents a synthesis of a fully integrated gel for zinc-air batteries using the interfacial dry crosslinking strategy. The gel exhibits good cycle stability, high battery rate performance, and excellent flexibility in a wide range of bending conditions.