A high voltage zinc–air battery with two isolated electrolytes and moving auxiliary electrodes

A design for a zinc–air battery is presented, which allows use of two different electrolytes for the zinc electrode and the air cathode. The two electrodes are decoupled using two auxiliary electrodes which can exchange their positions to continue the operation even after their capacity is exhausted. A 3-D printed battery module is used to demonstrate the design. The design is demonstrated by employing two different combinations of electrolytes and two auxiliary electrode materials. In the first case, a near neutral aqueous electrolyte is used with the zinc electrode, while an acidic electrolyte is used with the air cathode. This allows the battery to operate with an average discharge voltage of 1.44 V, which is much higher than traditional configuration. In the second case, the battery design was demonstrated by employing a water-in-salt (WIS) electrolyte for the zinc electrode, and a near neutral electrolyte for the air cathode. The battery design therefore opens the possibility of effective use and tuning of hybrid electrolytes in a zinc–air battery, free from any limitation of the capacity arising from the auxiliary electrodes.