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arXiv · 1706.05929

Unwanted electroless zinc plating on current collectors in zinc air batteries

Vinoba Vijayaratnam·Harald Natter·Samuel Grandthyll·Jens Uwe Neurohr·Karin Jacobs·Frank Müller·Rolf Hempelmann
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Abstract

The occurrence of metallic film deposition without external power supply on the copper current collector of a zinc air battery half-cell containing zinc slurry is investigated. Therefore, test specimens of miscellaneous materials representing the current collector are immersed in a commercial available zinc slurry as well as an in self-prepared zinc slurry. In case of copper and metals which are more noble (silver and gold), a coating on the respective specimen is obtained. An element mapping of the coated copper specimen is performed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) identifying that the coating layer consists of zinc and oxygen. In order to clarify the crystal structure and the exact composition, focused ion beam (FIB) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements are applied, proving that the layer consists of elemental zinc, which, is merely oxidized on the surface. Finally, a reaction mechanism for the reversible zinc film deposition is proposed.

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Vinoba Vijayaratnam, Harald Natter, Samuel Grandthyll, Jens Uwe Neurohr, Karin Jacobs, Frank Müller, Rolf Hempelmann. 2017-06-19. Unwanted electroless zinc plating on current collectors in zinc air batteries. https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.05929

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