Do Mussels Enhance Seawater Battery Performance? ... Underwater Adhesion Mimicry Significantly Improves Battery Efficiency

UNIST Researchers Develop Polymer Binder for Catalyst Immobilization on Electrodes

JMCA Journal Cover.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Has the performance of seawater batteries greatly improved thanks to mussels?

On the 13th, Professor Lee Dong-wook's team from the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced that they developed a binder material for seawater batteries mimicking the excellent underwater adhesion of mussels, significantly enhancing battery performance.

This research was conducted in collaboration with Professors Lee Hyun-wook and Kwak Sang-gyu from the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering.

The research team explained that the anode of a seawater battery consists of a current collector woven from carbon fibers and catalyst particles applied on the fiber surface. The binder is a substance that adheres and fixes the catalyst to the current collector.

The binder developed by the team mimics the adhesive protein components of mussels, exhibiting outstanding adhesion even underwater.

This technology is regarded as a solution to the problem where conventional binders lose significant adhesion underwater, unlike in organic solvents.

Research illustration depicting the role of mussel-inspired polymer binder at the catalyst and current collector interface.

According to the research team, if the current collector and catalyst are not properly adhered, the battery experiences overload (overvoltage), making the current collector prone to corrosion.

The seawater battery using the developed binder showed a reduction in overvoltage by up to 60% compared to when commonly used fluoride-based binders were employed, and the electrode performance improved approximately fourfold.

Observations under an electron microscope revealed a significant improvement in current collector corrosion. Additionally, catalyst particles were detected inside the binder, indicating that the binder not only prevents current collector corrosion but also protects against catalyst detachment.

The research team identified the reason for the binder's excellent adhesion through surface force measurement experiments and density functional theory analysis.

The analysis confirmed that the stronger the interaction forces at the interfaces between the catalyst and binder and between the current collector and binder, the more firmly the catalyst is fixed to the current collector.

Co-first author Researcher Choi Ji-eun (Integrated MS-PhD program, Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering) stated, “As a material with strong underwater adhesion as well as carbon corrosion and catalyst detachment prevention properties, this binder will contribute to accelerating the commercialization of not only seawater batteries but also various aqueous metal-air batteries.”

Seawater batteries are eco-friendly energy storage devices that store and discharge electricity using seawater. They share the common feature of using seawater as the electrolyte, similar to next-generation high-density energy storage devices such as aqueous metal-air batteries. Conventional batteries typically use hydrophobic organic solvents (oil-like substances that do not mix with water) as electrolytes.

This research was supported by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The research results were selected as the outside front cover of the international journal in the energy and materials field, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, and published on March 7.

Professor Dongwook Lee, UNIST.

Professor Hyunwook Lee, UNIST.

Professor Gwak Sang-gyu, UNIST.

Co-first authors Dr. Myungjin Baek (left) and researcher Jieun Choi (right).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.