TY - JOUR
T1 - A Highly Reversible Zinc Anode for Rechargeable Aqueous Batteries
AU - Jian, Qinping
AU - Wan, Yuhan
AU - Lin, Yanke
AU - Ni, Meng
AU - Wu, Maochun
AU - Zhao, Tianshou
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was supported by the Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (project no. C5031-20G) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (grant no. 2021A1515011815).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/11/10
Y1 - 2021/11/10
N2 - Zinc metal holds a great potential as an anode material for next-generation aqueous batteries due to its suitable redox potential, high specific capacity, and low cost. However, the uncontrollable dendrite growth and detrimental side reactions with electrolytes hinder the practical application of this type of electrodes. To tackle the issues, an ultrathin (∼1 μm) sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) is constructed onto the Zn anode surface by a facile spin-coating method. We demonstrate that the polymeric SEI simultaneously blocks the water molecules and anions, uniformizes the ion flux, and facilitates the desolvation process of Zn2+ ions, thus effectively suppressing the side reactions and Zn dendrite formation. As a result, the newly developed Zn@SPEEK anode enables a symmetric cell to stably operate over 1000 cycles at 5 mA cm-2 without degradation. Moreover, with the Zn anode paired with a MnO2 cathode, the full cell exhibits an improved Coulombic efficiency (over 99% at 0.1 A g-1), a superior rate capability (127 mA h g-1 at 2 A g-1), and excellent cycling stability (capacity retention of 70% over 1000 cycles at 1 A g-1). This work provides a facile yet effective strategy to address the critical challenges in Zn anodes, paving the way for the development of high-performance rechargeable aqueous batteries.
AB - Zinc metal holds a great potential as an anode material for next-generation aqueous batteries due to its suitable redox potential, high specific capacity, and low cost. However, the uncontrollable dendrite growth and detrimental side reactions with electrolytes hinder the practical application of this type of electrodes. To tackle the issues, an ultrathin (∼1 μm) sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) is constructed onto the Zn anode surface by a facile spin-coating method. We demonstrate that the polymeric SEI simultaneously blocks the water molecules and anions, uniformizes the ion flux, and facilitates the desolvation process of Zn2+ ions, thus effectively suppressing the side reactions and Zn dendrite formation. As a result, the newly developed Zn@SPEEK anode enables a symmetric cell to stably operate over 1000 cycles at 5 mA cm-2 without degradation. Moreover, with the Zn anode paired with a MnO2 cathode, the full cell exhibits an improved Coulombic efficiency (over 99% at 0.1 A g-1), a superior rate capability (127 mA h g-1 at 2 A g-1), and excellent cycling stability (capacity retention of 70% over 1000 cycles at 1 A g-1). This work provides a facile yet effective strategy to address the critical challenges in Zn anodes, paving the way for the development of high-performance rechargeable aqueous batteries.
KW - anticorrosion
KW - dendrite-free
KW - rechargeable aqueous batteries
KW - solid-electrolyte interphase
KW - zinc metal anode
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119399076&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.1c15628
DO - 10.1021/acsami.1c15628
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85119399076
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 13
SP - 52659
EP - 52669
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 44
ER -