Abstract The low anode utilization and large capacity loss of aluminum due to the severe self-corrosion in alkaline electrolyte extremely restrict the practical applications of aluminum-air batteries. The vital challenge lies in the issue to slow down the self-corrosion rate without decreasing the discharge performance of aluminum anode. In this work, the application of zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) and sodium alginate (SA) as electrolyte additives to mitigate the corrosion of aluminum is investigated by hydrogen evolution test as well as the electrochemical measurements. The results show that zinc sulfate decreases the corrosion rate of aluminum mainly by restraining the cathodic reaction and exerts positive effect on the improvement of discharge performance for aluminum-air batteries. The hybrid ZnSO4/SA additive exhibits higher inhibition efficiency for the corrosion of aluminum than single ZnSO4 or SA, the adsorbed SA stabilizes zinc layer and improves the protective performance. Moreover, the cell voltage is prominently elevated while the discharge capacity increases from 162.46 to 267.41 mAh cm−2 with the dosage of 10 mM ZnSO4 and 1 g/L SA. A possible model is also proposed to elaborate the influence mechanism of the additive on the self-corrosion behavior and discharge performance of aluminum-air batteries.

中文翻译：

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一种用于提高碱性铝空气电池性能的有前途的混合添加剂

摘要 铝在碱性电解液中自腐蚀严重导致负极利用率低、容量损失大，极大地限制了铝-空气电池的实际应用。关键的挑战在于在不降低铝阳极放电性能的情况下减缓自腐蚀速率的问题。在这项工作中，通过析氢测试和电化学测量研究了硫酸锌 (ZnSO4) 和海藻酸钠 (SA) 作为电解质添加剂在减轻铝腐蚀方面的应用。结果表明，硫酸锌主要通过抑制阴极反应来降低铝的腐蚀速率，对提高铝-空气电池的放电性能起到积极作用。ZnSO4/SA混合添加剂对铝的腐蚀抑制效率高于单一ZnSO4或SA，吸附的SA稳定了锌层，提高了防护性能。此外，随着 10 mM ZnSO4 和 1 g/L SA 的用量，电池电压显着升高，而放电容量从 162.46 mAh cm-2 增加到 267.41 mAh cm-2。还提出了一种可能的模型来阐述添加剂对铝空气电池自腐蚀行为和放电性能的影响机制。