Aluminum-Air Batteries for Aircraft Applications

Aluminum-air batteries have the theoretical potential as an energy carrier to make fully electric, commercial, regional, air travel feasible. As a primary, air-breathing battery, integration within aircraft systems generates challenges with respect to material choice and cell packaging. In this work, approaches to battery cell component fabrication have been developed with the goals of achieving high specific energy and energy density while maintaining a form that reduces integration complexity. Selection of a compatible aluminum anode was conducted, based on sensitivities of cell performance with differing foil thicknesses and mesh open areas. Cathodes were developed by depositing catalysts on a nickel foam charge carrier and spread to a defined thickness with a doctor blade. The resulting cathode prototypes were compared for peak power generation. Extensive research towards developing a consistent approach for creating gel-polymer electrolyte preforms was performed. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) based films of approximately 200 microns, average, were achieved and used in battery cells successfully. Single-cell batteries were evaluated with potentiostatic and galvanostatic analysis, with resulting performance characteristics capable of powering an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) testbed for a future study.