Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Three-Layer Nanoparticle Catalysts Improve Zinc-Air Batteries

January 5, 2017 By Phys.org

Nanoparticles containing three different layers of material can help to boost the performance of a zinc-air battery, A*STAR researchers have found.

Zinc-air batteries are cheap, have a high energy density, and last for a very long time. Their use of a water-based electrolyte makes them safer than other batteries, so they’re often found in medical applications, such as hearing aids and heart monitoring devices.

The battery’s negative electrode contains zinc metal, which gives up electrons when it reacts with hydroxide ions in the electrolyte . Those electrons generate a current as they flow to the positive electrode, where they react with oxygen from the air to produce more hydroxide ions.

The sluggishness of the reaction with oxygen limits the battery’s voltage output and its performance at high current. Finding a catalyst to speed up the reaction could yield higher power and energy densities, opening a wider range of potential applications.

A cathode containing nanoparticles made from cobalt, cobalt oxide and a carbon-based outer shell improved the performance of a zinc-air battery. (Credit: A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering)

Yun Zong and Zhaolin Liu of the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering and colleagues have developed a nanoparticle catalyst that could fit the bill. The particles are 20–50 nanometers across, with a cobalt core encased by an inner shell of cobalt oxide, which is surrounded by an outer shell of pyrolyzed polydopamine (PPD), a form of carbon ‘dotted’ with nitrogen atoms. These nanoparticles are coated on a porous carbon support that acts as an electrode. Their structure helps to prevent them from leaching cobalt or clumping together, and the protective outer shell also makes the nanoparticles more durable.

These three-layer nanoparticles efficiently transformed oxygen to hydroxide in a single step. The team suggests that nitrogen atoms in the PPD shell help to attract and make oxygen atoms more reactive on their way to catalytically active sites in the cobalt oxide and PPD. Meanwhile, the cobalt core and PPD shell help electrons to flow efficiently to the oxygen atoms. In contrast, similar particles containing only cobalt and cobalt oxide, or PPD alone, transformed oxygen in a two-step process that produced hydroperoxide, an undesirable and corrosive intermediate.

The researchers tested their electrode in a zinc-air battery (see image), and found that it could produce a current of five milliamps per square centimeter of electrode at 1.36 volts for five days, outperforming an electrode that relied on a conventional platinum catalyst.

“The next stage of this research includes the simplification of the synthetic route to facilitate large scale synthesis of the nanoparticles, and exploitation of other catalytic systems following the similar strategy,” says Zong.

Related Articles Read More >

Verily Study Watch
Verily says its Study Watch could identify heart failure risk
A child using a medical device at home.
Device design takes the spotlight among 2024’s top health tech hazards
These 11 medical device inventions are the best of 2023, Time magazine says
A photo of a Best Buy Geek Squad employee helping a chronic care patient with a remote monitoring device.
Device manufacturers have an unexpected ally for at-home health care
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe