No, it doesn't work. It always need a working battery, even on AC.

If you don't have a friend that can lend you a fully charged battery, you can either try to buy a new original battery (expensive) or you can look on ebay for sido batteries. They might not have the same capacity as an original battery but they usually come with a desktop charger (which might be handy if the charging circuit of the tablet is broken). I paid for a couple of batteries, the desktop charger, and usb cable and shipping around 10USD.
Of course, if the tablet itself is broken, those will be lost.
Note that "original" batteries on ebay are usually fake, so I prefer sido: at least they put their name on it and don't try to fool you.