Materials and Technologies of Al-Air Batteries

The worldwide demand for energy usage gradually increases over the years, and this will eventually cause the depletion of fossil fuels. Although green energy is currently being promoted globally, the dependency on fossil fuels in electricity generation does not show a reduction in the coming years. This is due to green energy having low efficiency and the energy extraction fluctuates as it depends on various factors such as weather, climate, and location. On the other hand, batteries offer a more consistent energy supply as all the energy is contained in the battery pack. Despite the proven advantages of the Li-ion battery especially in the electric vehicles application, the Li-ion battery comes with several caveats. The Li-ion battery required an extensive thermal management system to maintain the temperature uniformity at the optimum range, and the end-of-life battery is hard to recycle and possesses major environmental issues. Besides, the development of Li-ion batteries had reached its peak performance due to technology limitations. Hence, there is a need to find a new battery candidate for the post-Li-ion era. Among various types of battery candidates, aluminum-air battery shows a promising future due to its high energy density and high recyclability. Besides that, aluminum-air batteries offer good electrochemical properties such as high theoretical voltage, 2.71 V, and a high specific energy density of 8100 Wh/kg. This chapter will shed light on the latest development in the materials and technologies in aluminum-air batteries. The discussion will be carried out by separating the aluminum-air battery into different components.