Relating Catalysis between Fuel Cell and Metal-Air Batteries

With the ever-increasing demand for higher-performing energy-storage systems, electrocatalysis has become a major topic of interest in an attempt to enhance the electrochemical performance of many electrochemical technologies. Discoveries pertaining to the oxygen reduction reaction catalyst helped enable the commercialization of fuel-cell-based electric vehicles. However, a closely related technology, the metal-air battery, has yet to find commercial application. Much like the Li-ion battery, metal-air batteries can potentially utilize the electrical grid network for charging, bypassing the need for establishing a hydrogen infrastructure. Among the metal-air batteries, Li-air and Zn-air batteries have drawn much interest in the past decade. Unfortunately, state-of-the art metal-air batteries still produce performances that are well below practical levels. In this brief perspective, we hope to bridge some of the ideas from fuel cell to that of metal-air batteries with the aim of inspiring new ideas and directions for future research.