Low-Temperature Aqueous Batteries

Abstract

Although aqueous rechargeable metal-ion batteries (ARMBs) have become one of the current research frontiers due to their low cost, high safety, and other unique characteristics, traditional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) lose most of their capacity and power at ultra-low temperatures (below −40°C), which largely limits their application in high-tech fields such as new energy vehicles, national defense security, space exploration, and deep-sea operations. For ARMB to become a more practical device, technology must be developed to make lithium-ion batteries adaptable to a variety of environments, especially cold weather. Although organic electrolyte lithium-ion batteries have made some achievements in low-temperature applications, research in low-temperature ARMBs is still in its infancy. The reason for this difficulty is the freezing of water at low temperatures, which leads to a sharp delay in kinetics. This paper reviews the problems faced by low-temperature aqueous batteries at this stage and proposes strategies to solve the problems and optimize the performance of low-temperature aqueous batteries.