A research team led by Dr. Alberto Varzi and Prof. Dr. Stefano Passerini strengthens, with his recently published research
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.201870001/full), the importance of Zinc as an alternative anode material.
Zinc is becoming increasingly important for battery research. The reasons for this are its large natural abundance and, especially, its potentially larger volumetric energy density compared to graphite. So far though, no satisfactory cycling performance could be achieved with pure Zn anodes.
In this work, which is the result of a collaboration with an Italian team of scientists led by Dr. Sandro Cattarin (former Alexander von Humboldt research fellow, ICMATE-CNR, Padua), inexpensive and environmentally friendly electrodeposition in aqueous solution is used to synthesize Zn-rich porous Copper-Zinc alloys. These novel anodes enable more than 500 cycles, characterized by exceptional rate capability and increased capacity retention. In addition, they have unusually high lithium storage ability at low temperatures. These results are of great interest for more efficient, safer, as well as faster charging of Li-battery operated vehicles in cold regions.