A Secondary Al–CO2 Battery Enabled by Aluminum Iodide as a Homogeneous Redox Mediator

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 15; no. 10; pp. 12908 - 12914
• Main Authors: Fetrow, Christopher, Carugati, Cameron, Yu, Xingwen, Zhou, Xiao-Dong, Wei, Shuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 15.03.2023
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications; Al−CO2 battery; homogeneous catalyst; Al NMR; redox mediator; electrolyte additive
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c18323

As an emerging energy storage concept, Al–CO2 batteries have not yet been demonstrated as a rechargeable system that can deliver a high discharge voltage and a high capacity. In this work, we present a homogeneous redox mediator to access a rechargeable Al–CO2 battery with an ultralow overpotential of 0.05 V. In addition, the resulting rechargeable Al–CO2 cell can maintain a high discharge voltage of 1.12 V and delivers a high capacity of 9394 mAh/gcarbon. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis indicates that the discharge product is aluminum oxalate which can facilitate the reversible operation of Al–CO2 batteries. The rechargeable Al–CO2 battery system demonstrated here holds great promise as a low-cost and high-energy alternative for future grid energy storage applications. Meanwhile, the Al–CO2 battery system could facilitate capture and concentration of atmospheric CO2, ultimately benefiting both the energy and environmental sectors of society.