All-Solid-State, Foldable, and Rechargeable Zn-Air Batteries Based on Manganese Oxide Grown on Graphene-Coated Carbon Cloth Air Cathode

Pliable, safe, and inexpensive energy storage devices are in demand to power modern flexible electronics. In this work, a foldable battery based on a solid-state and rechargeable Zn-air battery is introduced. The air cathode is prepared by coating graphene flakes on pretreated carbon cloth to form a dense, interconnected, and conducting carbon network. Manganese oxide hierarchical nanostructures are subsequently grown on the large surface area carbon network, leading to high loading of active catalyst per unit volume while maintaining the mechanical and electrical integrity of the air cathode. Solid-state and rechargeable Zn-air battery with such air cathode exhibits similar polarization curve and resistance at its flat and folded states. The folded battery is able to deliver a power density as high as approximate to 32 mW cm(-2) and good cycling stability of up to 110 cycles. In addition, the flat battery shows similar discharge/charge curve and stable cycling performance after 100 times of repeated folding and unfolding, indicating its high mechanical robustness.