With the development of science and technology, modern industry and social development rely more and more on electric energy, advanced and efficient energy conversion technology is the key to the development, of new high-power fuel batteries (such as aluminum-air batteries) because of its high energy density (theoretical energy density 8100 Wh/kg), abundant storage capacity, low production cost, environmental protection, and non-toxic advantages and so on favored by many scholars. However, there are some problems against the application of aluminum anodes, such as high overpotential caused by the attached passivation layer on the surface and high self-corrosion rate in alkaline electrolytes. To address these challenges, many researchers are committed to improving anode performance through microalloying. In this work, the effects of different Ti contents (0.03wt%, 0.05wt%, 0.08wt%, and 0.10wt%) on the microstructure, corrosion behavior, electrochemical behavior, and discharge behavior of Al-Mg-In anode materials for kilowatt-class aluminum-air batteries were investigated systematically. The results show that with the increase of Ti content, the fibrous grains in the Al-Mg-In anode gradually refine, the grain organization gradually becomes uniform, and the increase of the number of grain boundaries can provide more reaction area for the air batteries, and the discharge activity of the anode material will increase with more discharge reaction channels, which will help to increase the working voltage of the aluminum anode. However, when the Ti addition exceeds 0.05wt%, the number of second phase particles in the Al-Mg-In anode sheet will increase, and a "primary battery" will be formed between the second phase and the substrate, which will accelerate the corrosion of the alloy and the local dissolution of grain boundaries, resulting in the decrease of corrosion resistance and discharge performance of the alloy. Therefore, the Al-Mg-In alloy with 0.05wt% Ti has the best corrosion resistance and battery discharge performance, indicating that the appropriate amount of Ti can optimize the performance of aluminum-air batteries.
XU Cong
,
FANG Xin-Yue
,
KONG Min
,
WANG Rui-Zhi
,
ZHANG Jun
,
LU Guang-Xi
,
HU Jun-Hua
,
GUAN Shao-Kang
. Study on aluminum anode with different Ti addition for kW-grade aluminum-air batteries[J]. The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering, 2023
, 23(8)
: 1131
-1136
.
DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.223107