Starch Gel Electrolyte and its Interaction with Trivalent Aluminum for Aqueous Aluminum-Ion Batteries: Enhanced Low Temperature Electrochemical Performance.

This study explores trivalent Al interaction with aqueous starch gel in the presence of two different anions through salting effect. Salting-out nature of Al2(SO4)3·18H2O with starch gel causes precipitation of starch; this happens due to competitive anion-water complex formation over starch-water interaction, thereby reducing polymer solubility. Salting-in effect of AlCl3 with starch gel happens through Al3+ cation interaction with hydroxyl group of starch and increases polymer solubility, making gel electrolyte viable for battery applications. Prepared gel electrolyte exhibits ionic conductivity of 1.59 mS cm-1 and a high tAl 3+ value of 0.77. The gel electrolyte's performance is studied using two different cathodes, the Al|MoO3 cell employing starch gel electrolyte achieves discharge capacity of 193 mA h g-1 and Al|MnO2 cell achieves discharge capacity of 140 mA h g-1 @0.1 A g-1 for first cycle. The diffusion coefficient of both cells using starch gel electrolyte is calculated and found to be 2.1 × 10-11 cm2 s-1 for Al|MoO3 and 3.1 × 10-11 cm2 s-1 for Al|MnO2 cells. The Al|MoO3 cell at lower temperature shows improved electrochemical performance with a specific capacity retention of ≈87.8% over 90 cycles. This kind of aqueous gel electrolyte operating at low temperature broadens the application for next generation sustainable batteries.

Scalable Metal Free Zinc Ion Capattery Enabled by Interstitial Defect Engineering of Nanoscale n-Type Zinc Vanadate.

This Letter explores the energy storage properties of nano zinc vanadate in zinc metal batteries and a Zn metal free capattery. The synthesis is a simple scalable solution state mechanochemical route with uniform nanosized one-dimensional zinc vanadate. The synthesized vanadate is engineered using NMP at the electrode fabrication stage to position the Zn2+ ions at an easily extractable site. This in turn tunes the bandgap from 2.38 to 2.16 eV, creating oxygen defective vacancies in the crystal lattice. In addition, electrochemical analysis of the engineered cathode is studied in a half-cell device that is further developed into a zinc metal free zinc ion capattery (ZiC). The developed metal free capattery delivered a capacity of 120 mAh g-1 at a current density of 100 mA g-1, and a pouch cell is fabricated to power light-emitting diodes.