Polymeric Materials for Metal-Air Batteries

The growing demand for energy coincides with a growing need for sustainable energy alternatives. Storage systems are important mechanisms of future energy grids as they act as a buffer for intermittent and renewable energy sources. Therefore, it is crucial to design a modern electrochemical storage system that is advanced, efficient, and eco-friendly and combines it with resource abundance. These days, metal-air battery (MAB) is gaining attention among these technologies and has recently been undergoing research. The advantages of metal-air batteries include the fact that they are eco-friendly, non-noxious, low cost, and will not harm the environment. A metal-air battery has become the most promising power storage system of the modern era with its high-power density. Aluminium air batteries, lithium-air batteries, magnesium air batteries, zinc air batteries, and sodium air batteries, are examples of the most conventional metal-air batteries. Several polymers are used in metal-air batteries, for instance, poly (vinylpyrrolidone), poly (vinyl chloride), poly (acrylonitrile), poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), and poly (vinylidene fluoride). In this chapter, we have assessed the most recent advances from a technical point of view and analyzed their practical and business implications. Several factors limit the progress of industrial-scale metal–air batteries, including the low number of cycles, low discharge rates, discharge products at the cathode, side reactions inside the battery, and lithium anode oxidation. The present chapter will discuss the upcoming perspective, important issues, applicability, and challenges in the presented developed field. Ongoing research to overcome these barriers is also discussed.