稀有金属(英文版) 2021,40(01),1-2

Green,cheap and rechargeable Al-N₂ battery with efficient N₂ fixation

Chen-Xuan Xu Jun-Da Huang Jian-Min Ma

School of Physics and Electronics,Hunan University

作者简介：Jian-Min Ma e-mail:nanoelechem@hnu.edu.cn;

收稿日期：25 September 2020

Green,cheap and rechargeable Al-N₂ battery with efficient N₂ fixation

Chen-Xuan Xu Jun-Da Huang Jian-Min Ma

School of Physics and Electronics,Hunan University

Received： 25 September 2020

Battery technologies have obtained great attention due to their wide-ranging applications in present and emerging fields [ 1, 2] ,and great progress in exploring novel battery technologies has been achieved [ 3, 4] .However,there is still huge room to develop new kinds of battery technologies with the appearance of new materials,technologies and ideas [ 5] .Compared with some metal (e.g.,Li,Na,K,Mg,Zn)-based batteries,Al-based batteries have more advantages in cost and safety [ 6] .In addition,some emerging metal-CO₂ or N₂batteries with gas cathodes can not only provide energy storage,but also converse CO₂ into liquid fuels,or N₂into NH₃ to replace the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process [ 7] .Although some progresses in metal-gas batteries (Li-CO₂ battery,Na-CO₂ battery,K-CO₂battery,Li-N₂ battery,Na-N₂ battery) have been made [ 8, 9] ,low-cost Al-N₂ battery has rarely been reported.Recently,one attractive paper published in Energy&Environmental Science reported a rechargeable Al-N₂battery with efficient N₂ fixation [ 10] .This kind of batteries has two obvious advantages:low-cost energy storage and artificial N₂ fixation.

Zhi et al.designed a rechargeable Al-N₂ battery system that was composed of an ionic liquid electrolyte,graphene-supported Pd (graphene/Pd) catalyst cathode and Al anode [ 10] .As shown in Fig.la, shift to cathode and catch N₂ feedstock to form cathodic AlN product and during discharging.The process is reversed when charging.Thus,not only N₂ can be effectively fixed into AlN as splendid energy storage system,but also the cathodic AlN product can be easily transformed to NH₃,which is pivotal to nitrogenous fertilizers and serviced as superior hydrogen storage.For the cycling test,the Al-N₂ battery can maintain several cycles for 120 h with slight polarization(Fig.1b).X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the discharged CC electrode in Fig.1c displays two extra characteristic peaks of AlN at about 33.3°and 36.0°.Moreover,benefiting from the merit of the aprotic ionic liquid electrolyte,the proton-free environment can exclude the parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER),which is the main competitor for Faraday efficiency (FE) of the electrochemical N₂ reduction (NRR).As a result,the Al-N₂ battery exhibits admirable performance of the electrochemical N₂ fixation after 2 h for NH₃ yield of 27.l mg·g^-1·h^-1 and the highest FE of51.2%(Fig.1d).

This work demonstrates the operation possibility of Al-N₂ battery and proposes to improve the cycling performance through adjusting the cathode catalysts.Moreover,it provides a superior N₂ fixation method with high NH₃ yield and impressive FE.The work provides an interesting idea to couple energy storage with N₂ fixation into one system.This kind of batteries has two obvious advantages:low-cost energy storage and artificial N₂ fixation.In future,the cycling performance of Al-N₂ battery is desirable to be extended through exploring novel structure-designable catalysts.

Fig.1 a Schematic for achievement of both energy storage and N₂ fixation by Al-N₂ battery system;b cyclic performance test of Al-N₂ battery at 0.05 mA-cm^-2;c XRD patterns;d NH₃ yield rates and Faradic efficiencies on Al-N₂ battery.Reproduced with permission from Ref. [10] .Copyright 2020,American Chemical Society

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