Grant: Alliance Grants

By nature, solar cells can only convert light into instant electricity for instant use, but cannot store energy. Onthe other hand, the rechargeable Zn-air battery can store (and release) energy repeatedly. These batteries differfrom conventional batteries by using an air electrode that works with oxygen from the atmosphere, thusincreasing the specific energy. The combination of these energy sources with the photovoltaic technologydeveloped by the industrial partner will be studied in order to offer a solution to the problem of theintermittency of solar energy. Direct valuation in terms of technical and industrial advantages is not onlybeneficial to the industrial partner to (i) develop its own hybrid energy conversion/storage system but also (ii)open up new business opportunities for it in the various application sectors of zinc-air batteries.However, commercialization of the Zn-air battery is hampered by a number of limitations of the technologysuch as relatively poor performance of their air electrodes, due to slow reaction kinetics during the oxygenreduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as well as to high voltage surges occurring inboth the ORR and the OER.We seek to develop all-solid-state zinc-air batteries that combine superior performance, high efficiency andlong life, while reducing costs and simplifying manufacturing, by applying production techniques that are easyto implement on an industrial scale to enable the deployment of these batteries for large-scale energy storage.The strong synergy between the academic and industrial partner (Pi-Sol technologies Inc.) will create a uniquesolar-storage hybrid product guaranteeing clean and energy-efficient functional integrity, currently littleexplored in Canada.