Vitamin B12 catalyst in a rechargeable zinc-air battery

Researchers at the Chemical Institute for Energy and the Environment (IQUEMA) of the University of Córdoba in Spain have built a prototype rechargeable zinc-air battery that uses vitamin B12 as a catalyst, according to a release published on EurekAlert on 4 November 2026. The authors say this is the first time the vitamin has been used as a catalyst in a battery. The prototype withstood up to 250 charge and discharge cycles. eurekalert.org

The work was published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A (DOI 10.1039/d6ta02773c) under the title "A vitamin B12-based air electrode for high-performance rechargeable zinc–air batteries". The study was carried out by the Physical Chemistry research group (FQM-204). eurekalert.org

Vitamin B12 as an air-electrode catalyst

Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, has cobalt(III) at its core. In the prototype it is anchored to single-walled carbon nanotubes, a configuration that facilitates the electrochemical reaction. eurekalert.org

The main difficulty was that the vitamin is highly soluble, while the battery works with aqueous electrolytes. To keep it inside the cell, the team fixed it to the nanotubes, imitating, in the authors' words, the process by which amino acids bind together in proteins. eurekalert.org

According to researcher Antonio Jesús Fernández Romero, during discharge the vitamin catalyses the reduction of oxygen to water, and during recharging it promotes the production of oxygen. eurekalert.org

This is the group's third biomolecule catalyst. Earlier batteries used haemoglobin and catalase, which contain iron(II) and iron(III), respectively. B12 is the case in which the battery became rechargeable. eurekalert.org

Why zinc-air cells

The authors place the work among the searches for alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, whose raw materials pose economic, social and environmental challenges. Zinc-air cells offer high energy density and use zinc, which is abundant and recyclable, and oxygen. eurekalert.org

Because oxygen is taken from the environment, the cell does not have to store all the reactive material inside, which makes it lighter. Such batteries are already used in small devices such as hearing aids. Non-flammable aqueous electrolytes also make them safer. eurekalert.org

The researchers say the result opens a path to cheaper and more sustainable storage systems, including those for surplus energy from renewable sources. The release reports results for a laboratory prototype only. eurekalert.org

University of Córdoba builds prototype zinc-air battery with vitamin B12 catalyst, 250 cycles

Vitamin B12 as an air-electrode catalyst

Why zinc-air cells

Sources · 1

Read also

Regorafenib with nivolumab and chemotherapy gave tumor response in 22 of 30 gastric cancer patients