Chris Rahn1,Shuhua Shan1,Mihir Parekh2,Rong Kou1,Donghai Wang1
Pennsylvania State University1,Clemson University2
Chris Rahn1,Shuhua Shan1,Mihir Parekh2,Rong Kou1,Donghai Wang1
Pennsylvania State University1,Clemson University2
Alkaline electrolyte flow through porous Zn anodes and Ni(OH)<sub>2 </sub>cathodes can overcome diffusion limits, reduce dendrite growth, and improve cycle life. Zinc deposition morphology improves with low flow rates for KOH/ZnO electrolytes at current densities near the diffusion-limited regime. Zinc dendrites present without flow are suppressed by micrometer-per-second flow at concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 M ZnO dissolved in 6 M and 10 M KOH solutions. Zn-Cu asymmetric cell tests reveal that flowing electrolyte increases the lifespan by more than 6 times in the diffusion-limited regime by suppressing gas evolution and dendrite formation. Ni-Zn cell tests show that a flow-assisted battery cycles 1500 times with over 95% Coulombic efficiency (CE) at 35 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> current density and 7 mAh/cm<sup>2</sup> charge capacity, increasing the battery lifespan by 17 times compared with a stagnant electrolyte Ni-Zn cell. Flow-through electrolyte also stabilizes the Zn electrode in the over-limiting regime, achieving approximately 4 times increased lifespan and 297 cycles with over 90% CE at 52 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>.