Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to solving at least one of the problems of the prior art. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a carbon-free air electrode which solves the carbonization problem and has a long service life.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a carbon-free air electrode is provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carbon-free air electrode includes: a foam metal layer; a catalytic layer covering at least a portion of the surface of the metal foam layer; and the waterproof layer covers the surfaces of the catalyst layer and the foam metal layer and is provided with a ventilation pore passage.
According to the carbon-free air electrode disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, the problem of carbon contained in a catalyst layer of the conventional air electrode is avoided, the problem of carbonization of the air electrode is solved, the service life is prolonged, and the discharge effect is improved; the catalyst layer is tightly combined with the current collector, so that the polarization of the air electrode is reduced.
in addition, the carbon-free air electrode according to the above embodiment of the present invention may also have the following additional technical features:
according to an embodiment of the invention, the catalytic layer is composed of nickel cobaltate nanoparticles.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the metal foam layer is composed of at least one selected from the group consisting of copper, nickel, nichrome, zinc-copper alloy, nickel-chromium-tungsten alloy, and nickel-iron alloy.
according to the embodiment of the invention, the mass ratio of the catalytic layer to the foam metal layer is 0.1-10: 100.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing the aforementioned air electrode. According to an embodiment of the invention, the method comprises: forming a catalytic layer on at least part of the surface of the foam metal; carrying out pressing treatment on the foam metal with the catalytic layer formed on the surface and the waterproof breathable film, and forming a waterproof layer on the catalytic layer and the surface of the foam metal so as to obtain an air electrode intermediate; and roasting the air electrode intermediate to obtain the air electrode.
According to the method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the prepared air electrode does not contain carbon, so that the problem of carbon contained in a catalyst layer of the conventional air electrode is avoided, the problem of carbonization of the air electrode is solved, the service life is prolonged, and the discharge effect is improved.
In addition, the method for preparing the air electrode according to the above embodiment of the present invention may further have the following additional technical features:
According to the embodiment of the invention, the catalytic layer is formed on at least part of the surface of the foam metal by using a hydrothermal synthesis method.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the step of forming the catalytic layer on at least a part of the surface of the metal foam comprises:
Preparing a hydrothermal reaction solution; cleaning the foam metal to obtain cleaned foam metal; and placing the hydrothermal reaction liquid and the cleaned foam metal in a hydrothermal reaction kettle for hydrothermal reaction so as to form the catalytic layer on at least part of the surface of the foam metal.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the hydrothermal reaction liquid contains cobalt nitrate, nickel nitrate, urea, ethanol and a dispersing agent.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the concentration of the cobalt nitrate is 5-20g/L, and the concentration of the nickel nitrate is 30-60 g/L. The concentration of the urea is 5-20g/L, the concentration of the ethanol is 5-10g/L, and the concentration of the dispersing agent is 1-10 g/L.
according to the embodiment of the invention, the reaction temperature of the hydrothermal reaction is 90-300 ℃, and the reaction time is 2-24 hours.
according to the embodiment of the invention, the pressure of the pressing treatment is 10-20MPa, and the dwell time is 0.5-5 minutes.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the temperature of the roasting treatment is 200-350 ℃, and the time is 1-4 hours.
additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative only for the purpose of explaining the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.
In the description of the present invention, the terms "longitudinal", "lateral", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are for convenience of description of the present invention only and do not require that the present invention must be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
it should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. Further, in the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.
according to one aspect of the present invention, a carbon-free air electrode is provided. Referring to fig. 1, the carbon-free air electrode is explained according to an embodiment of the present invention. The carbon-free air electrode includes: foam metal layer 2, catalysis layer 3 and waterproof layer 1. The following explains the components of the carbon-free air electrode one by one, specifically as follows:
Foam metal layer 2: according to an embodiment of the invention, the metal foam layer acts as a current collector to conduct the current. The foam metal has the advantages of small density, large specific surface area and good conductivity, so that the performance of the current collector is better.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the metal foam layer 2 is composed of at least one selected from the group consisting of copper, nickel, nichrome, zinc-copper alloy, nickel-chromium-tungsten alloy, and nickel-iron alloy. The foam metal with large specific surface area can provide enough attachment surface for the silver particle catalyst to ensure that the silver particles can be uniformly and lowly deposited on the surface of the foam metal to obtain better catalytic activity, and can transmit current generated by discharge.
Catalytic layer 3: according to the embodiment of the invention, the catalytic layer 3 covers at least part of the surface of the foam metal layer 2, and the chemical polarization of the air electrode oxidation reduction is reduced by using the catalytic layer.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the mass ratio of the catalytic layer 3 to the foam metal layer 2 is 0.1-10: 100. therefore, the catalytic layer is uniformly distributed on the surface of the foam metal, and the current generated by the catalytic reaction is conducted through the foam metal.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the catalytic layer is composed of nickel cobaltate nanoparticles. Therefore, the catalytic particles are uniformly distributed, the specific surface area is large, the catalytic activity is good, the combination with the foam metal is tight, the electronic conduction speed is high, and the corrosion resistance is strong.
The inventors found that the smaller the particle size of the nickel cobaltate nanoparticles, the larger the specific surface area, and the better the catalytic activity. However, if the particle size of the nickel cobaltate nanoparticles is too small, the preparation process is difficult and the cost is high, and when the particle size of the nickel cobaltate nanoparticles is 100-1000nm, the preparation process is relatively simple, the specific surface area is large, the catalytic activity is good, the conductivity of the air electrode is large, and the economic benefit is high.
Waterproof layer 1: according to the embodiment of the invention, the waterproof layer 1 covers the surfaces of the catalyst layer 2 and the foam metal layer 2, and the waterproof layer 1 is provided with the air-permeable pore passages 4, so that air enters the electrolyte through the air-permeable pore passages 4 and the electrolyte in the battery is prevented from leaking out.
According to some embodiments of the invention, the diameter of the gas-permeable channels 4 is between 5 and 30 nm. Therefore, air can enter the electrolyte from the pore channel, and water with larger particle size cannot leak out through the air-permeable pore channel.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing the aforementioned air electrode. Referring to fig. 2, a method of manufacturing the aforementioned air electrode, according to an embodiment of the present invention, is explained, the method including:
S100 Forming the catalyst layer
According to an embodiment of the invention, a catalytic layer is formed on at least part of the surface of the metal foam. The catalyst layer is directly formed on the surface of the foam metal through a one-step method without independently pressing the catalyst layer and then coating the catalyst layer on the surface of the foam metal, and the method is simple in step and easy for industrial production.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a catalytic layer is formed on at least a portion of the surface of the metal foam using hydrothermal synthesis. Therefore, the catalyst directly grows on the matrix of the foam metal by adopting a hydrothermal synthesis method, and the catalyst layer does not need to be pressed separately and then coated on the surface of the foam metal, so that the method has simple steps, is easy for industrial production, has good product consistency, and has fine granularity, large specific surface area and high catalytic activity of the catalyst particles formed on the surface.
according to an embodiment of the present invention, the step of forming a catalytic layer on at least a part of the surface of the metal foam comprises: preparing a hydrothermal reaction solution; cleaning the foam metal to remove dirt and grease on the surface of the foam metal to obtain the cleaned foam metal; and then placing the hydrothermal reaction liquid and the cleaned foam metal into a hydrothermal reaction kettle for hydrothermal reaction to form a catalytic layer on at least part of the surface of the foam metal. Therefore, the catalyst can be directly grown on the foam metal substrate by one step by using a hydrothermal synthesis method, the steps are simple, the industrial production is easy, the product consistency is good, and the catalyst particles formed on the surface have fine granularity, large specific surface area and high catalytic activity.
according to the embodiment of the invention, the hydrothermal reaction solution contains cobalt nitrate, nickel nitrate, urea, ethanol and a dispersing agent. Therefore, the hydrothermal reaction liquid is used for carrying out hydrothermal reaction, a nickel cobaltate catalyst layer can be formed on the surface of the foam metal, the hydrothermal reaction liquid is a cyanide-free hydrothermal reaction liquid, the hydrothermal reaction liquid is safe and pollution-free, the cost is low, the obtained catalyst layer is tightly combined with the matrix, the compactness is good, and the catalytic activity is high.
According to some embodiments of the invention, the hydrothermal reaction solution has a cobalt nitrate concentration of 5-20g/L, a nickel nitrate concentration of 30-60g/L, a urea concentration of 5-20g/L, an ethanol concentration of 5-10g/L, and a dispersant concentration of 1-10 g/L. Therefore, the catalyst layer is uniform in thickness, and the formed nickel cobaltate nanoparticles are small in particle size, large in specific surface area, good in compactness and high in catalytic activity.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the reaction temperature of the hydrothermal reaction is 90-300 ℃, and the reaction time is 2-24 hours. Therefore, the catalyst produced by the reaction has complete shape growth and good crystallization form.
s200 roasting treatment
According to the embodiment of the present invention, the metal foam having the catalyst layer formed on the surface thereof is subjected to the baking treatment, whereby the catalyst layer can be tightly bonded to the metal foam and is less likely to fall off.
According to the embodiment of the invention, the temperature of the roasting treatment is 200-350 ℃, and the time is 1-4 hours. Therefore, the catalytic layer has good curing effect.
S300 forming an air electrode
According to the embodiment of the invention, the electrode intermediate and the waterproof breathable film are subjected to pressing treatment, and a waterproof layer is formed on the catalyst layer and the surface of the foam metal, so that the air electrode is obtained.
according to the embodiment of the invention, the pressure of the pressing treatment is 10-20MPa, and the dwell time is 0.5-5 min. From this, waterproof ventilated membrane is laminated on the surface of foam metal closely, and the waterproof ventilative layer on air electrode surface can effectively prevent the electrolyte seepage in the battery and can allow the air to pass through simultaneously.
The present invention is described below with reference to specific examples, which are intended to be illustrative only and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.
Example 1
The method for preparing the air electrode comprises the following specific steps:
(1) Preparing a hydrothermal reaction solution with the following components: 15g/L of cobalt nitrate, 40g/L of nickel nitrate, 10g/L of urea, 8g/L of ethanol and 5g/L of dispersing agent.
(2) And (3) removing oil from the foam metal by using alcohol, and then ultrasonically cleaning the foam metal to obtain clean foam metal.
(3) Adding clean foam metal into a hydrothermal reaction kettle, and then soaking the clean foam metal into hydrothermal reaction liquid, wherein the upper part of the foam metal is exposed out of the liquid surface.
(4) and sealing and heating the hydrothermal reaction kettle, and carrying out hydrothermal reaction at the reaction temperature of 200 ℃ for 5 hours.
(5) After the reaction is finished, cooling the reaction kettle to room temperature, opening the reaction kettle, taking out the foam metal, washing the reaction kettle with clear water, and then putting the reaction kettle into a furnace for roasting at the roasting temperature of 200-350 ℃ for 1-4 h.
(6) And taking out the roasted foam metal, pressing the foam metal with the waterproof breathable film under the pressure of 10-20MPa, and maintaining the pressure for 0.5-5min to obtain the air electrode.
(7) And (3) performing a discharge test on the air electrode, wherein the discharge current density reaches 300mA/cm2, and the service life reaches more than 3000 h.
In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
while embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.