Super-iron Battery: Modification Of K₂FeO₄-based Cathode Materials And The Battery Performances

Super-iron battery has become a new focus and been regarded as a revolutionary achievement in the research field of battery because of its high energy and no pollution since the end of the 1990s last century. Although the research work of super-iron battery has great improvement in recent years, there is still many work need to do before its industrialization producing such as the high cost of ferrate as the cathode materials because of its complex synthesis and the lower use ratio because of the bad stability and decompose of ferrate in the process of discharge. This paper provides a systematical research about the synthesis of potassium ferrate and the effect on the discharge performances of Zn/K₂FeO₄ super-iron battery as the modification of cathode materials basing on the research about super-iron battery in the world . In the experiment, we adopte a improved method of preparation of potassium ferrate by hypochlorite oxidation. The experimental results demonstrate that 98% purity and 80% yield of potassium ferrate can be achieved by raw materials. The characterization of potassium ferrate is presented by chemical analysis (chromite), UV, XRD. The results show high purity and perfect crystallation of K2FeO4 . The paper studies on the discharge performances of Zn/K₂FeO₄ super-iron battery in AAA cell configuration using the modified K2FeO4 as cathode active materials through its various electric materials, concentration of electrolyte and additive. At last, we conclude that the super-iron battery with the modified K₂FeO₄ as cathode active materials has higher voltage and use ratio. The maximum of specifie capacity of Zn-K₂FeO₄ battery in AAA cell configuration is 364mAh/g and discharge efficiency is 89%.