Technology
A protective film that assembles itself, at 1% of the electrolyte
Zinc has been the obvious candidate for grid and home storage for decades. Two problems kept it out of the market, and they are tangled together.
The problem
Why zinc batteries have always died young
Zinc is abundant, cheap, non-toxic, and it does not burn. Zinc batteries can be assembled in ordinary air rather than a sealed dry room. On paper, the case is overwhelming.
Corrosion. In a water-based electrolyte, hydrogen evolution creates a locally alkaline film on the zinc surface. That consumes electrolyte and leaves behind insulating byproducts.
Dendrites. Those uneven deposits disturb how zinc plates back onto the anode. Instead of a smooth layer, the metal grows in needle-like branches that eventually reach across the cell and short it out.
The result is a battery that dies in months.
What ZenQuo does
An aliphatic alcohol additive, at around 1% by volume
ZenQuo's core patent is an aliphatic alcohol additive - 1,2-butanediol or 1,2-pentanediol - used at around 1% by volume in a zinc sulfate electrolyte.
At that concentration, the additive molecules self-organise into a thin adsorbed film at the boundary between the zinc and the electrolyte. The founders describe it as a dynamic solid-electrolyte interphase: a protective layer held in place by continuous adsorption and desorption rather than by permanent chemical reaction. It suppresses corrosion and levels the electrodeposition, so zinc plates as fine, compact, uniform grains instead of branching dendrites.
Because the additive sits at 1%, the electrolyte remains around 99% water. Conductivity, cost, safety and ambient manufacturability are all preserved.
The mechanism was confirmed directly by quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, which measured the film forming at the electrode surface and then reversibly dissolving when additive-free electrolyte was flowed back over the sensor.
The whole trick, in one bar
Suppressing corrosion and dendrites normally means flooding the electrolyte with organic additive - which collapses ionic conductivity and gives away the cost and safety advantages that made an aqueous cell worth building. ZenQuo's additive works at around 1% by volume.
Published approaches
ZenQuo
Show the numbers
| Approach | Water | Additive |
|---|---|---|
| Published approaches | under 50% | over 50% |
| ZenQuo | ~99% | ~1% |
Additive concentrations: WO2024124296A1 and Advanced Materials 36 (2024).
Without additive
cell shorted
Zinc plates unevenly. Needle-like dendrites branch out from the anode until one reaches across and shorts the cell, while corrosion consumes electrolyte alongside. The cell dies in months.
With ~1% additive
adsorbed additive film
The additive self-organises into a thin adsorbed film at the zinc surface. It suppresses corrosion and levels the electrodeposition, so zinc plates as fine, compact, uniform grains - five to twenty times the cycle life.
How it was found
By prediction, not by trial and error
The additive was not stumbled upon. ZenQuo co-founder Dr Priyank Kumar's group screened families of alkanols and alkanediols computationally, using density functional theory and machine learning to model the combination of adsorption, solvation and association energies that would produce a stable interfacial film on zinc.
The molecules that theory identified are the molecules that worked in the cell.
The cathode
Resolving a decade-old dispute about MnO₂
ZenQuo's second technical thrust is the positive electrode. Manganese dioxide is the leading cathode candidate for zinc batteries - safe, high-voltage, cheap, abundant - but its practical use has been limited by poor reversibility, rooted in a mechanistic dispute that ran unresolved for more than a decade.
In 2026 the team published a unified explanation in Nature Communications, combining operando characterisation, multimodal spectroscopy and theory. They established a dual redox mechanism - proton-primed dissolution and redeposition of manganese oxide, coexisting with reversible proton intercalation - and identified pH-driven insulating byproduct precipitation as the key kinetic barrier limiting capacity.
Those insights point directly at the surface activation and architectural design strategies now feeding ZenQuo's cathode development.
Current collector
Zinc anode Zn
Abundant, non-toxic, and domestically mined.
Aqueous electrolyte and separator ZnSO₄ (aq) · ~99% H₂O
Zinc sulfate in water, with the additive at around 1% by volume. Nothing here is flammable.
Manganese dioxide cathode MnO₂
Safe, high-voltage, cheap and abundant.
Current collector
Performance
What has been measured, and what is projected
These are two different kinds of claim, and they are labelled as such throughout. Nothing below is a product specification - ZenQuo is at TRL-4, with validated alpha prototypes.
Demonstrated
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Cycle life Validated alpha prototype cells, at 60 Wh/kg. | 1,000+ cycles |
| Energy density Scaled-up cell with high-voltage cathode - 1 kWh per 16 kg. | 60 Wh/kg |
| Energy density, small pouch cell Earlier small-format demonstration - 1 kWh per 30 kg. | 30 Wh/kg |
| Cycle-life improvement from the additive Against an otherwise identical additive-free electrolyte. | 5–20× |
| Practical lifetime The same improvement expressed as service life. | a few months → over three years |
| Additive concentration Published alternatives typically exceed 50% by volume. | ~1% by volume |
| Electrolyte composition | ~99% water |
Projected not measured
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Cycle life | 3,000–5,000 cycles |
| Energy density | 60–70 Wh/kg |
| Cost to the consumer Against solar storage that often exceeds AUD $1,000/kWh today. | ~AUD $250/kWh |
| Cost relative to lithium-ion Of the price of present-day lithium-ion systems. | one-third to one-quarter |
Cycle life
Alpha prototype cells have been validated past 1,000 cycles at 60 Wh/kg. The additive delivers five to twenty times the cycle life of an otherwise identical additive-free electrolyte - in service terms, the difference between a cell that lasts a few months and one that lasts over three years.
Show the numbers
| Measure | Cycles | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Demonstrated | 1,000+ | Validated alpha prototype cells, at 60 Wh/kg |
| Projected | 3,000–5,000 | Projection, not a measured result |
| Improvement from the additive | 5–20× | Against an otherwise identical additive-free electrolyte |
Demonstrated: UNSW investment portfolio. Projection: UNSW.
A quarter of the cost
Projected cost to the consumer, against what solar storage commonly costs today. ZenQuo's cells are built from abundant zinc and manganese and assembled in ordinary air - no dry rooms, no inert atmosphere, and far less factory capital.
Show the numbers
| System | Cost per kWh | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Typical solar storage today | over AUD $1,000 | Current market cost |
| ZenQuo | ~AUD $250 | Projected cost to the consumer |
Projection: UNSW. Current market cost: UNSW.
Intellectual property
University-owned, formally licensed
The IP is owned by NewSouth Innovations, UNSW's commercialisation arm, and formally licensed to ZenQuo. That is a clean chain of title - the thing an investor checks first. A second-generation family is already filed.
- First generation
AU2022903850A0 → WO2024124296A1
Electrolytes and electrolyte additives for aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries
Priority December 2022, published June 2024. National phase in Australia (AU2023397412A1) and China (CN120380638A). Assigned to NewSouth Innovations Pty Ltd and licensed to ZenQuo.
- Second generation
AU2025905630A0
Optionally substituted phenol containing electrolytes and electrolyte additives for aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries
Filed 2025. Second-generation electrolyte chemistry.
Manufacturing
Assembled in ordinary air
ZenQuo cells are assembled in ambient air. There is no dry room, no inert atmosphere, and no specialised environmental control - which collapses the capital cost of a production line relative to lithium-ion.
Because the innovation sits in the electrolyte, it is compatible with existing battery manufacturing processes rather than requiring purpose-built plant. That makes licensing to established manufacturers a realistic route to scale, alongside direct production.
If you manufacture cells, the interesting part is that you may not need a new factory.
Talk to us about licensing