Zinc Based Energy Systems

Zinc based energy systems have tremendous advantages including high specific energy, recyclability, safety and zero emissions.

Its not surprising then that zinc is used in the manufacture of a variety of battery chemistries, both primary and rechargeable, consumer and industrial.

The most well known of these chemistries are the primary zinc-carbon and alkaline batteries, which together dominate the standard AAA, AA, C and D size consumer battery market.

Zinc/Air and Zinc/Silver batteries are also widely used in the electronics industry to power hearing aids, wrist watches, calculators and the like. Industrial Zinc/Silver and Zinc/Nickel batteries are of critical importance in a variety of aeronautic and military applications; while larger Zinc/Air cells have been developed to power electric vehicles and Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) installations.

The zinc air cell is a particularly interesting technology because it acts as a partial fuel cell using the O2 from air as the cathode. There are portable primary zinc/air batteries and industrial primary zinc/air batteries. There are also electrically rechargeable zinc/air batteries that use a bifunctional oxygen electrode for charge and discharge, and mechanically rechargeable zinc/air batteries that require the replacement of discharged anodes.