Zinc-air batteries would be a promising candidate for energy conversion and storage because of their dense energy and effective cost. The metal nickel is extensively used for current collection and framework support of the air electrode in consideration of its outstanding anticorrosion property and conductivity. However, the reaction of zinc and nickel in zinc-air batteries has not been reported. Here, we show a novel zinc-air battery with a reverse structure of the air electrode based on Zn–Ni reaction, where nickel foam of the air electrode is oriented toward the zinc electrode, protecting the catalytic layer of the air electrode from impurity coverage and inhibiting dendrite growth. A zinc-air primary battery with the reverse air electrode exhibits a stable discharging ability of >1000 h around 1.4 V, achieving a capacity of 0.73 A h g_Zn⁻¹ and a specific energy of 874 W h kg_Zn⁻¹. Moreover, a zinc-air secondary battery with the reverse air electrode obtains more than 700 h cycles at the current density of 10 mA/cm² without battery failure.

锌空气电池由于其能量密度高且成本低廉，将成为能量转换和存储的有前途的候选者。考虑到其优异的防腐性能和导电性，金属镍被广泛用于空气电极的集电和骨架支撑。但锌-空气电池中锌与镍的反应尚未见报道。在这里，我们展示了一种新型的锌空气电池，它具有基于 Zn-Ni 反应的空气电极的反向结构，其中空气电极的泡沫镍朝向锌电极，保护空气电极的催化层免受杂质覆盖并抑制枝晶生长。具有反向空气电极的锌空气一次电池在 1.4 V 左右表现出>1000 h 的稳定放电能力，达到 0.73 A hg 的容量_Zn ^-1和874 W h kg _Zn ^-1的比能量。此外，具有反向空气电极的锌空气二次电池在 10 mA/cm ²的电流密度下获得超过 700 小时的循环，而没有电池故障。