针对微型自治系统的应用要求,提出了一种具有层状锌电极/碱性电解液/空气阴极结构的微型平板锌空气电池.设计了一种具有高密度微小柱体结构的三维锌电极来获得高空隙率,从而提供最佳的性能.针对所开发的微型电池,根据锌在电解液中的电化学反应原理和电池中的传质过程,综合考虑了质量和电荷守恒定律、液相中的欧姆定律、固相中的电流传输(Buter-Volmer方程),以及锌分解的析出/分解速率和动力学速率,建立了理论模型,在此基础上模拟并讨论了微型电池的性能.采用四掩模工艺制造了原型微型电池.初步试验结果表明,这种微型电池能够提供的最大功率为5 mW,在2 h内可以稳定提供的平均功率为100μW.尽管这种微型电池的制造工艺仍然有待进一步优化,但是初步的试验结果已经表明,电池的结构设计和计算机建模结果是令人满意的,这种锌空气电池的概念用于微型自治系统是可行的.
A new planar zinc/air micro-battery, suitable for autonomous microsystem applications, is developed, which possesses a layered structure of zinc electrode/alkaline electrolyte/air cathode. A three-dimensional (3D) zinc electrode with a high density of posts was designed to obtain a high porosity to achieve the fine performance for the micro-batteries. Based on the principle of electrochemistry of zinc in alkaline solution (KOH) and the mass-transportation process in a battery, a theoretical model of the micro-battery was developed and the device performances simulated and discussed. A four-mask process was subsequently developed to fabricate the prototype micro-batteries. The preliminary testing results show that the proposed micro-battery is able to deliver a maximum power up to 5 mW, with an average power of 100μW at a steady period for up to 2 h. The initial test results indicate the feasibility and applied foreground of the micro zinc/air battery.