Calcium zincate synthesis
BETTER ANODE MATERIAL FOR LOW-COST ZINC BATTERIES
Calcium zincate (CAZN) is used as an active material in rechargeable zinc-based batteries, as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel or as an antifungal agent. They are a cost-effective and safer alternative to lithium batteries and serve as a replacement for lead-acid batteries.
More cost-effective and safer
The synthesis of calcium zincate has not yet been optimized. In addition, there is no scalable synthesis route for calcium zincate, which makes its potential industrial use difficult.
2ZnO(s) + Ca (OH)2(s) + 4H2O → Ca (OH)2 · 2Zn (OH)2 · 2H2O(s)
Mechanical force
In a hydrothermal process, particle sizes in the range of 10 to 200 µm can be achieved. In a grinding process by applying mechanical force using grinding beads on the DYNO-MILL MULTI LAB, we achieve smaller calcium zincate particles with an average size of 10 ± 2 𝜇m. This results in a very homogeneous calcium zincate powder with very good battery properties.
Lower costs
Compared to hydrothermal synthesis, only 33 % of the total energy consumption and 30 % of the water is used. As the production is 20 times faster, it requires less infrastructure and space than the most competitive hydrothermal synthesis methods. It is a simpler, more environmentally friendly and faster method of producing CAZN crystals.
Better quality
Laboratory tests showed that the calcium zincate has a larger reaction surface and a 1.77 times faster activation of the battery when using a mechanochemical process.
Scalability
As this is a continuous process, scale-up to pilot or industrial scale is possible.
Environmental alternative
The Life-Cycle Analysis of this process shows that the mechanochemical process is a better ecological alternative for all the indicators examined. For example, an outstanding improvement of 97 % in the "global warming" indicator was found compared to hydrothermal synthesis.
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The solution for processing fibrous or liquid products in a mechanochemical reaction.
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Would you like to find out more? You can find more information in the paper.
The research was led by EasylZinc (France) and the Life-Cycle Analysis was carried out by the UNESCO Chair of Life Cycle and Climate Change of ESCI-UPF (Spain).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2017/7369397
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