Status Quo and Foresight of Emerging Aqueous Zn–MnO2 Battery: A Critical Opinion

Abstract

Alternative battery technologies have become the need of the hour in the wake of the aggressive demand for safe, affordable, and green energy storage systems (ESSs). From this standpoint, despite the present-day lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) broadly dominating the battery market, LIBs still suffer from bottlenecks of safety, cost, and eco-friendliness. In response to this call, Zn-based battery research has shown great promise due to the highly safe, low-cost, and very less environmental risk of the zinc element. In particular, the mildly acidic Zn–MnO₂ battery system which was initially researched sporadically but is rejuvenated recently in 2012 has made great strides and comes a long way to establish itself as an appropriate solution for large-scale ESSs. This commentary provides the hindsight on the present research status related to the developments, issues, and the foreseen predictions of the Zn–MnO₂ battery system. In short, the possibility of realizing this safe, low-cost, and eco-friendly battery system for plausible large-scale commercial stationary storage is explored.