An ultrahigh performance alkaline CFx-Zn primary battery

With the increasing demand of high energy and power density for energy storage devices, aqueous zinc-based batteries with high safety and low-cost battery system, have attracted wide attention due to their inherent advantages. Herein, for the first time, fluorinated carbon (CF_0.95) materials are reported as cathodes for alkaline zinc batteries and exhibit unprecedented power and energy density. The results show that the material exhibits a very high specific capacity of 703.5 mAh/g as well as an ultrahigh energy density up to 795.5 Wh/kg at a current rate of 50 mA/g (0.071C). Besides, it still holds high capacity of 416.7 mAh/g when discharged at a rate of 50000 mA/g (71C), indicating an outstanding power performance of 25066.0 W/kg. The corresponding capacity can even reach to 170.6 mAh/g, 706 mAh/g and 562.6 mAh/g when it is evaluated at a current rate 0.71C under −20 °C, 0 °C and 50 °C respectively. Finally, electrochemical discharge mechanism based on the conversion reaction is also further uncovered by XRD and SEM characterization and EDS elemental analysis. In conclusion, the alkaline Zn/CF_x new-type primary battery systems with excellent properties developed here might show broad application prospects.