Preparation and characterization of Acacia Senegal hydrogel electrolyte in zinc-air battery

In this work, Acacia senegal (AS) as hydrogel electrolyte for zinc-air battery application were studied. Issues regarding synthetic polymer used for hydrogel electrolyte may cause toxicity, harmful substance, leakage and are non-biodegradable. AS is a natural polymer that are non-toxic, low cost and has potential as electrolyte to apply in battery applications. AS hydrogel was first prepared by dissolved AS powder with distilled water and heated at 70 – 80 °C to form hydrogel. Optimum composition of AS hydrogel was observed with 1:1 and dissolved with different KOH concentration to form AS hydrogel electrolyte. The ionic conductivity, viscosity, structural and open circuit potential characterization were studied to evaluate the properties of AS. For FTIR analysis, abundance of hydroxyl ions presence as charge carriers contributed to the conductivity and open circuit potential analysis. 6 M KOH was recorded as the best composition and exhibited excellent electrochemical properties to be applied in zinc-air battery.