Policy makers and consumers push for sustainable batteries that rely on abundant, recyclable materials with accessible, stable supply chains. Growing concerns over lithium-ion battery safety, recyclability, and reliance on shrinking cobalt reserves prompt efforts to advance alternative chemistries. To identify promising candidates, we review supply-risk data and the abundance of battery-relevant elements in the Earth's upper continental crust. We find that of the rechargeable-battery chemistries that rely on abundant low-risk elements, zinc (Zn) batteries, namely Zn–MnO₂ and Zn–air, are the lowest cost and most energy dense. Guided by this analysis, we advance Zn batteries by reporting a green synthesis that dramatically lowers the cost and boosts the performance of rechargeable Zn-sponge electrodes. We test these electrode architectures in Zn–air cells and demonstrate a 3200% increase in rechargeable areal capacity over the majority of previously reported studies.

中文翻译：

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低成本绿色合成海绵锌，用于可充电的可持续电池

政策制定者和消费者都在寻求可持续电池，这些电池依赖于具有可访问的稳定供应链的大量可回收材料。人们对锂离子电池安全性，可回收性以及对钴储量减少的依赖日益增加，这促使人们努力开发替代化学产品。为了确定有前途的候选人，我们回顾了供应风险数据以及地球上层地壳中与电池相关的元素的含量。我们发现依赖大量低风险元素的可再充电电池化学方法是锌（Zn）电池，即Zn–MnO ₂和锌空气，成本最低，能量密度最高。在此分析的指导下，我们通过报告绿色合成技术来推进锌电池的发展，该合成技术可大大降低成本并提高可充电锌海绵电极的性能。我们在Zn-空气电池中测试了这些电极的结构，并证明了与以前报道的大多数研究相比，可再充电面容量增加了3200％。