Integratable solid-state zinc-air battery with extended cycle life inspired by bionics

Zinc-air battery is essentially the breathing battery, for which the bionic ideas may guide the future development. Herein, derived from the mechanism of alveoli, the solid-state electrolyte modified with Gemini bio-surfactants created a stable interface, which has extended the cycle life of battery for two times. A fluorescence method was developed for the first time to have successfully detected the presence of reactive oxygen radicals (ROS) in the solid-state electrolyte after battery cycled. The fluorescence kinetics experiment proves that the lecithin layer can block the ROS across the membrane, thereby protecting the electrode from oxidative corrosion. The solid-state zinc-air batteries using untreated solid-state electrolytes only can cycle for 22 h, while batteries with lecithin-modified electrolytes can cycle for 47 h. In addition, innovation of placing the air-electrode inside realized high integration of zinc-air batteries, and unveiled the 3 × 3 battery module integrated for the first time. Compared with previous reports, the assembled battery module is more compact to drive larger devices. It was proposed that the dual iteration between material exploration and device design will be the avenue towards the future development of solid-state zinc-air batteries.