The large-scale deployment of renewable energy is dependent on the accessibility of cost-effective and long cycle life energy storage solutions. Rechargeable Zn-air batteries are a good candidate, but the aggressiveness of their alkaline electrolyte reduces the battery life. Replacing the alkaline electrolyte with a neutral/quasi-neutral solution is a logical alternative. The energy efficiency of neutral/quasi-neutral Zn-air batteries is however lower than alkaline Zn-air batteries due to the more sluggish kinetics of the oxygen electrochemical reactions in pH-neutral solution. This article describes the development of an efficient hybrid battery design to close the performance gap between alkaline and neutral/quasi-neutral Zn-air batteries. Specifically, a Mn²⁺-containing electrolyte is used to complement the Zn-air chemistry with a facile MnO₂/Mn²⁺ redox reaction. The quasi-neutral Zn-air battery formulated as such shows a record high round-trip energy efficiency of 63.2% by using only a low-cost phosphated MnO₂ oxygen electrocatalyst; which is as energy efficient as the alkaline rechargeable Zn-air batteries but without the cycle life problem of the latter.

可再生能源的大规模部署取决于成本效益高且寿命长的储能解决方案的可及性。可再充电的锌空气电池是很好的选择，但是碱性电解液的侵蚀性会缩短电池寿命。用中性/准中性溶液代替碱性电解质是一种合理的选择。但是，中性/准中性Zn-空气电池的能量效率低于碱性Zn-空气电池，因为在pH中性溶液中氧电化学反应的动力学更慢。本文介绍了一种有效的混合动力电池设计的开发，以缩小碱性和中性/准中性Zn-空气电池之间的性能差距。具体而言，Mn ²⁺含电解质的电解质可用于通过简单的MnO ₂ / Mn ²⁺氧化还原反应来补充Zn-空气化学反应。如此配制的准中性Zn-空气电池，仅使用低成本的磷酸化MnO ₂氧气电催化剂，往返能量效率就达到了创纪录的63.2％。它具有与碱性可再充电锌空气电池一样的能源效率，但是没有后者的循环寿命问题。