Thunderzee invents a revolutionary Zinc air battery that not only eliminates the risk of fire that is commonly seen in lithium-ion batteries but also provides more energy, weighs less, costs less and is environmentally friendly. With 3 patents on file and more to follow, the Zinc air battery is ideal for a vast variety of consumer applications.
Andy Lin, Founder and CEO, Thunderzee, said, “Generally, zinc-air batteries are designed for low-power discharge and small-scale appliances, such as hearing aids. It is not suitable for high power applications. Thunderzee’s zinc-air fuel cell is a self-developed high-performance component that can simultaneously provide higher energy and power than traditional zinc-air fuel cells. We have made a major breakthrough in electrochemistry of metal air batteries. We developed high power metal air fuel cell components: air cathode, ion membrane, and metal fuel formulation.”
Lin said that the global battery technology market size is estimated to grow from USD 92.0 billion in 2020 to USD 152.3 Billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 10.6%. Major factors driving the market include declining lithium-ion battery prices, rapid adoption of electric vehicles, growing renewable sector, and increased sale of consumer electronics…On the other hand, the demand-supply mismatch of raw materials is likely to hinder the market growth.
Lin enumerated the challenges of battery design includes energy density, power density, fast recharge, reliability, safety, costs, and sustainability. Energy density is limited by the battery’s chemistry, which even without losses limits the theoretical energy density. The chemistry is defined by the electrode material and the composition of the electrolyte. Lithium-air batteries get close to the energy density of gasoline, which is probably close to the maximum energy density for a battery. However, the components required for thermal management and current collection contribute to the total weight of the battery system. The design of these components can substantially influence the energy density of a battery system.
The power density of a battery is important for the efficiency of electric vehicles. A high power density is required to recapture high amounts of energy in a short time during regenerative braking or fast recharge. This gives a difficult optimization problem since the system has to cope with very high current densities during recharge and relatively low current densities during discharge. It also relates to the design of the thermal management and the current collectors mentioned above. In addition, the design of fundamental battery components such as the electrodes, separator, and electrolyte are of great importance for power density.
Life is a major consideration where safety and reliability are closely related. Discharge, wear, and failure should occur slowly and in a controlled and transparent way. This is not only an issue of the chemistry of the battery, but also of the design, since uneven current density distribution, and poor control of discharge/recharge and of the thermal management system may accelerate wear and increase the risks of failure. Short-circuits formed by metal deposition may be responsible for decrease in performance as well as an increased risk for runaway heating. Technologies for state-of-health monitoring are required in order to continuously assess the state of the battery system and the risks of failure.
The manufacturing process for high-power batteries and electric powertrains is not as optimized as for mechanical powertrains for combustion engines. There is a larger potential in productivity gains and decreased costs by large-scale production in the manufacturing process for the battery components. The development of new batteries has to include the aspect of sustainability. There has to be a strategy for mining, recycling, producing, and disposing of new battery types. This is primarily a legal matter for governments, but also a commercial consideration for battery manufacturers and automotive companies.
