Sains Malaysiana 49(12)(2020): 3243-3254

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2020-4912-35

Microstructure and Discharge Performance of Aluminum Al 6061 Alloy as Anode for Electrolyte Activated Battery

(Mikrostruktur dan Prestasi Nyahcas Aloi Aluminium Al 6061 sebagai Anod untuk Bateri Teraktif Elektrolit)

PRIYATHASHINY PONGALI¹, WAI YIN WONG¹, ALVIE SIN VOI LO², SAMMY LAP IP CHAN³ & KEAN LONG LIM¹*

¹Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

²Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

³School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, New South Wales, 2052, Australia

Diserahkan: 17 Ogos 2020/Diterima: 11 September 2020

ABSTRACT

Electrolyte activated battery finds its important use during natural disaster emergencies, such as floods and typhoons. Nevertheless, high corrosion rate will deteriorate the discharge performance of the battery and it is influenced by the type of electrolyte and discharge current. In this study, the corrosion and discharge performance of a commercial Al 6061 aluminum alloy as an anode are investigated at different discharge currents (0.001, 0.01, and 1 mA) and in different electrolytes, namely salt water, urea, and distilled water. Scanning electron microscopy results show that electrode in salt water has the most serious corrosion, followed by that of in urea and in distilled water. These electrode-electrolyte combinations are further investigated with potentiodynamic polarization, galvanostatic discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to understand their discharge potential, discharge behavior, and corrosion mechanism. Among all combinations, aluminum in water is found to have the highest discharge performance with discharge potentials ranging from 716 to 744 mV, regardless of discharge current.

Keywords: Aluminum based battery; electrolyte activation battery; emergency power generation

ABSTRAK

Bateri yang boleh diaktifkan dengan elektrolit adalah penting semasa kecemasan bencana alam, seperti banjir dan ribut taufan. Namun demikan, kadar kakisan yang tinggi akan menjejaskan prestasi nyahcas bateri dan prestasi tersebut sangat dipengaruhi oleh jenis elektrolit dan arus nyahcas. Dalam kajian ini, kadar kakisan dan prestasi nyacas aloi aluminium komersial Al 6061 yang digunakan sebagai anod dalam bateri diuji pada kadar arus nyacas yang berlainan (0.001, 0.01 dan 1 mA) dan dalam elektrolit yang berlainan, yakni, air garam, urea dan air suling. Keputusan mikroskopi elektron imbasan menunjukkan elektrod di dalam air garam mengalami kakisan yang paling tinggi, diikuti dengan urea dan air suling. Kombinasi elektrod-elektrolit ini dikaji lebih lanjut dengan pengkutuban potentiodinamik, penyahcas galvanostatik dan spektroskopi impedans elektrokimia untuk memahami keupayaan nyahcas, kelakuan nyahcas dan mekanisme kakisan. Antara semua kombinasi, aluminium di dalam air didapati menunjukkan prestasi nyahcas yang tertinggi dalam julat 716 to 744 mV, tanpa mengira arus nyahcas.

Kata kunci: Bateri berasakan aluminum; bateri yang diaktifkan dengan elektrolit; penjana kuasa kecemasan

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*Pengarang untuk surat-menyurat; email: kllim@ukm.edu.my