Recent advancements to mitigate zinc oxide formation in zinc-air batteries: A technical review

Application of zinc metal in the field of electrochemistry has always been of specific interest as it is a favored material for high energy density batteries and sacrificial electrodes to guard the other metallic components against corrosion. Some other factors, beside a high energy density, such as its low cost, ease of handling, nontoxicity, and abundance of zinc, has made this metal receive a considerable attention by researchers. In the past decades, considerable efforts have been dedicated to discovering and emerging electrically rechargeable zinc-based batteries in a response to the growing request in energy consumption in the fast-growing market of electronic devices and automotive business. Nevertheless, regardless of the developments made in the material science and the cell design, only a slight breakthrough has been attained in developing a system capable of substituting other viable rechargeable batteries. Passivation is one of the most challenging obstacles in zinc air batteries (ZABs) for commercialization. Recently, several developments have been executed to alleviate the passivation of zinc anode in the ZABs. This review has meticulously surveyed different aspects of this issue as well as recent developments for mitigating the zinc anode corrosion and passivation.