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Freeze-resistant and robust gel electrolyte for flexible aluminum-air batteries

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Abstract

Flexible aluminum-air batteries have great prospects in wearable devices and various engineering applications. However, it is still a huge challenge for flexible aluminum-air batteries to operate stable under severe cold conditions. The key to solving this problem is to develop freeze-resistant electrolytes with high mechanical performance. Therefore, a novel PVA/BC-EG gel electrolyte for flexible aluminum-air battery was prepared in this study. The crystallization resistance and abundant hydrogen bonds of the PVA/BC-EG electrolytes endow them with freeze-resistant and high mechanical performance. The conductivity and elongation of the electrolytes can reach 21.383 mS/cm and 441.529% even at -20 ℃. The flexible aluminum-air batteries assembled with the PVA/BC-EG electrolytes can still maintain excellent electrochemical characteristics after fatigue-stretching 2000 times under subzero conditions.

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Funding

This research was funded by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Project No. LGG21E050021), and the Sci-Tech Planning Project of Jiaxing (Project No.2020AY10015, 2020AD10015 and 2021AY30020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Haobo Zhang, Duanhao Lu & Zhangfeng Zhao

  2. College of Information Science and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, 314000, China

    Ying Yu & Chuncheng Zuo

  3. Jiaxing Nanhu University, Jiaxing, 314001, China

    Yuxin Zuo

Authors
  1. Haobo Zhang
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  2. Ying Yu
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  3. Yuxin Zuo
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  4. Chuncheng Zuo
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  5. Duanhao Lu
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  6. Zhangfeng Zhao
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.Y. and Y.Z.; methodology, Y.Y. and C.Z.; formal analysis, Y.Y. and Y.Z.; investigation, Y.Y. and Z.Z.; writing-original draft preparation, H.Z.; writing-review and editing Y.Y.; visualization, H.Z. and D.L.; supervision, Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ying Yu or Yuxin Zuo.

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Zhang, H., Yu, Y., Zuo, Y. et al. Freeze-resistant and robust gel electrolyte for flexible aluminum-air batteries. Ionics 29, 3087–3096 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-023-05066-z

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