A team of researchers at the autonomous Christ College at Irinjalakuda in Thrissur has developed a method to overcome a key hurdle in tapping the commercial benefits of zinc-based batteries.
They have come up with technology to improve the performance of zinc-based batteries by solving the dendrite issue (non-uniform metal deposits formed during charging). The team led by Joy V.T., associate professor and head of the department of Chemistry, has won a U.S. patent for the invention. The team members included researchers Daiphi Davis and Leya Mary Anto.
“Even though zinc-based batteries are cheap, environmentally friendly and inherently safe, the main problem with them is that during charging of the battery, zinc is not plated uniformly but forms a loose, bump-like structure called dendrite. Dendrite issue was the key problem, which prevented commercialisation of zinc-based batteries,” said Dr. Joy.
