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The Roles and Characterizations of Activated Carbon in Printed Air Cathode for Flexible Zinc-Air Battery

Wednesday, 1 June 2016
Exhibit Hall H (San Diego Convention Center)
S. Kheawhom and S. Suren (Chulalongkorn University)
Flexible zinc-air batteries were fabricated using an inexpensive screen-printing technique. The anode and cathode current collectors were printed using commercial nanosilver conductive ink on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate and a polypropylene (PP) membrane, respectively. Air cathodes made of blended activated carbon with MnO2, were fabricated. Further, the effects of the structure of the air cathode layers and their electrochemical characterizations were studied. We also studied the effects of type and concentration of the activated carbon on the performances of the battery. Increasing porosity of the air cathode layers resulted in achieving more power from the batteries. 
Finally, the batteries were tested for their flexibility by bending them so that their length decreased from 100% to 50%. The results showed that the bending did not affect characteristics on voltage and discharging time of the batteries.