A Reversible Zinc-Ion Microbattery from a Printed Gel-Electrolyte and a Carbon-Zinc Formulation

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are gaining traction for grid applications due to cost, safety, and material availability.
• Their potential for powering portable devices remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the feasibility of using rechargeable ZIBs for portable electronics.
• To fabricate and characterize an interdigitated ZIB for powering a commercial sensor.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a rechargeable ZIB using printed, scalable aqueous formulations.
• Assembly included a zinc powder/carbon black anode, colloidal electrolyte, and MnO2 cathode.
• Galvanostatic cycling and device-level testing were performed.

Main Results:

• The printed anode demonstrated stable cycling (>500 h) with low overpotential (~32.2 mV).
• The ZIB achieved a capacity of ~1.3 mAh/cm² (~129 mAh/g) and retained ~66% capacity after 100 cycles.
• The battery powered a Bluetooth sensor for over 3 days at 3.2 V.

Conclusions:

• Printed aqueous ZIBs show promise for powering portable electronic devices.
• Scalable fabrication methods enable practical applications for ZIB technology.
• This work expands the application scope of ZIBs beyond large-scale energy storage.