Boosting Zinc-Air Batteries with Designed Carbon Composites

You might think that making batteries is just about throwing some chemicals together. But scientists are getting really clever about it! They’re mixing carbon nanotubes and graphene to make special composites. These composites have nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) added in just the right way to make zinc-air batteries work better. For starters, these batteries need something to help them reduce oxygen. That’s where the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) comes in. Researchers found that when they used urea to add nitrogen to the carbon nanotubes and graphene mix, it worked really well. The batteries started working at a lower voltage, which is great! But they didn’t stop there. They added sulfur using thiourea, and that made the batteries even better. The best part? When they used both urea and thiourea together, the batteries were super active and lasted a long time. After running for 2000 cycles, they only lost a little power. In real-world use, these batteries packed a punch. They had a high voltage, power density, and could store a lot of energy. All thanks to the smart way scientists are designing these carbon composites!