Adding crab shell into the mix makes a rechargeable zinc battery work better and it is easier to biodegrade and recycle it
because zinc is so abundant in nature, says Hu. However, zinc-ion batteries usually can’t be charged many times and perform poorly because the water inside the battery – which is necessary as a conductor for the ions – corrodes the zinc and forms deposits on the anode that interfere with the battery’s function.
Hu decided to investigate chitosan because its molecules bond well with water, which means fewer water molecules should be available to react with the zinc, which might help prevent zinc corrosion.Biodegradable and widely available in nature throughout the world, chitosan is safe and inexpensive, says Hu.
Hu and his colleagues created a flexible, transparent membrane that contained chitosan and zinc ions, compressing it until it was flat and dense. They then placed this over the zinc anode. The cathode was made of an organic compound known as poly or PBQS. Testing showed that the membrane allowed high, fast conductivity of zinc ions without the typical zinc corrosion in water. Instead, particles of zinc turned into microscopic hexagonal platelets that piled up in flat layers along the side of the test battery’s anode – continuing to help reduce unwanted reactions with the zinc.
As for performance and lifespan, the prototype operated at a high current density of 50 milliamperes per square centimetre for 400 hours – or 1000 cycles of charge, which is comparable to small lithium batteries.Inside a closed battery, chitosan would gradually degrade over a period of several years, and the remaining zinc could be recycled, he says.
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