The Chinese University of Hong Kong has developed a new type of 'air battery'

The Chinese University of Hong Kong announced that Professor Lu Yijun of the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and his research team have developed a safe, efficient, and long-life air battery, which uses the organic material potassium biphenyl as the negative electrode and oxygen as the positive electrode, respectively, to reveal the storage system of renewable energy Open a new page. In recent years, air batteries composed of alkali metals such as lithium, sodium, potassium, etc. and oxygen have won industry attention due to their advantages such as high energy density and low cost; however, such batteries also have short life cycles, unstable air electrodes, and easy metals. Disadvantages such as combustion have stagnated the research on secondary metal-air batteries. Lu Yijun said that the team broke through the material limit and replaced alkali metals with organic materials, and finally successfully developed a potassium biphenyl composite oxygen battery with a life cycle of up to 3000 cycles and an average coulombic efficiency of more than 99.84% at high current density. In addition, the organic negative electrode will not catch fire when it encounters water or common chemical solvents, which greatly improves the safety and stability of the battery. She believes that potassium biphenyl composite oxygen battery is an important way to solve the instability of renewable energy supply, promote the popular use of environmentally friendly energy, replace fossil fuels in the long-term, and promote sustainable development. According to reports, the material cost of potassium biphenyl composite oxygen battery is much lower than that of transition metals in alkali metal and lithium ion batteries, and can be used in large-scale power storage systems, small and medium charging stations, and renewable energy collection.