Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 4, 2026

Zinc-Sponge Battery Electrodes that Suppress Dendrites
Published on: September 29, 2020
An aqueous rechargeable battery based on zinc anode and Na(0.95)MnO2
Baihe Zhang1, Yu Liu, Xiongwei Wu
1New Energy and Materials Laboratory (NEML), Department of Chemistry & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. wuyp@fudan.edu.cn.
Abstract:
An aqueous rechargeable battery system is assembled by using metallic zinc and Na(0.95)MnO2 as the negative and positive electrodes, respectively. It is cheap and environmentally friendly, and its energy density is 78 Wh kg(-1). Its cycling performance is very good with only 8% capacity loss after 1000 cycles at 4 C between 1 and 2 V.
Related Concept Videos
Batteries and Fuel Cells
Voltaic/Galvanic Cells
Spontaneous redox reactions occur abundantly in nature. The chemical reaction occurring in a disposable AA battery powering our remote controls is one such example of a spontaneous redox reaction. Another example is the immersion of coiled copper wire into an aqueous silver nitrate solution. The reaction shows a gradual, visually impressive color change from colorless to bright blue and the formation of a grey precipitate on the copper wire. In this experiment,...
Electrochemical Cells
Standard Electrode Potentials
Concentration Cells
Consider the following voltaic cell:
The Nernst Equation
The interconnection between standard cell potentials and various thermodynamic parameters such as the standard free energy change ΔG° and equilibrium constant K has been previously explored. For example, a redox reaction involving zinc(II) and tin(II) ions at 1 M concentration with Eºcell = +0.291 V and ΔG° = −56.2 kJ is spontaneous.

