Feasibility study of polypropylene-based aluminium-air battery

Abstract

The global economy depend on the fossil fuel to meet the daily power demands, ranging from electricity supply to transportation. It is estimated that more than 60% of the world power generation is depending on the fossil fuel. Therefore, the search for clean energy to replace fossil fuel has become the current research trend in the world. Metal-air battery featuring high energy density is projected as one of the promising candidate for the next generation energy storage system. There are various type of metal-air batteries available in the literature such as lithium-air battery, magnesium-air battery, silicon-air battery, aluminium-air battery, zinc-air battery, etc. However, aluminium-air batteries with its low cost and high energy density of 4300 Wh/kg show a great potential for future energy storage applications. In this study, the performance of the aluminium-air battery with polypropylene separator is being investigated. The battery is filled with 1M of Potassium Hydroxide electrolyte. Anode of the battery is made of Aluminium foil and carbon fibre cloth is used as cathode of the battery. The experimental results shown that, the maximum capacity of 23 mAh can be achieved using 6.25 mA of constant current discharge. By connecting the batteries in series, it is sufficient to power on a light-emitting diodes and charging a mobile phone.