Electrochemical approach to prepare integrated air electrodes for highly stretchable zinc-air battery array with tunable output voltage and current for wearable electronics

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.06.045
• Publication Date: 2017-06-30T17:32:00Z
• Authors: Shengxiang Qu; Zhishuang Song; Jie Liu; Yingbo Li; Yue Kou; Chao Ma; Xiaopeng Han; Yida Deng; Naiqin Zhao; Wenbin Hu; Cheng Zhong
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract Efficient stretchable and flexible energy devices are urgently required due to their promising application in wearable devices. Although flexible solid-state zinc-air batteries have been developed in previous studies, no stretchable Zn-air batteries with large stretchability (> 20%) have been reported. We first present a planar rechargeable stretchable and flexible Zn-air battery array fabricated by layer-by-layer assembly of 2 × 2 electrode arrays, a polymer gel electrolyte, serpentine-shaped copper circuits, and a rubber substrate. Vertical Co3O4 nanosheets were fabricated by a binder-free and simple manner and were grown in situ on carbon cloth as an integrated cathode. The Zn-air battery array displayed stable electrochemical behaviors, with a large tensile strain of 100%. Furthermore, the battery array could be discharged stably at 1 V at a high current density of 2 mA cm–2 under high-frequency dynamic stretching (~ 100% strain per second) and bending conditions. In addition, by redesigning the arrangement of the electrode array, the stretchable Zn-air battery array could be configured to provide a wide range of output voltages, specifically from 1 to 4 V. The resulting Zn-air battery array was sewn onto cloth and applied to power a green light band (3.0 V) with 60 light-emitting diodes (LEDs), proving the feasibility of its application in wearable energy-storage electronics.