Polymer and Chaotropic Anion: A dual-additive strategy enables stable Zn Anode and high energy efficiency for Zn-Air/Iodide hybrid batteries

Siyuan Zhao, Jiayu Zhao, Wenlan Zhang, Yaping Yan, Jiachen Ma, Qinyang Feng, Idris Temitope Bello, Manhui Wei, Tong Liu, Jinhye Bae, Minshen Zhu, Meng Ni

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

The severe Zn dendrite growth and low energy efficiency inhibit the application of Zn-air batteries (ZABs) in energy storage. Electrolyte additives are promising to resolve these issues and improve battery performance. Polyacrylamide (PAM) additive with abundant polar functional groups can theoretically induce a uniform Zn deposition and interacts with water molecules to lower the water activity but suffer from limited effect in practice due to low solubility. Concurrently, chaotropic anion I- with a lower oxidation potential is also introduced to substitute the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with a faster iodide oxidation reaction (IOR) during charging, contributing to a Zn-air/iodide hybrid battery with enhanced energy efficiency. However, the I- has no effect on Zn dendrite issues. Herein, we develop a dual-additive strategy employing polymer and chaotropic anion simultaneously to take both their advantages but also avoid the drawbacks. I- can facilitate the dissolution and untangling of PAM chains, which enables more functional groups to interact with Zn and water molecules. Thanks to the synergetic effect of PAM and I-, the hybrid ZAB delivers a long cycle life of 240 h with a high energy efficiency of 74.6 % and obtains a stable Zn anode with alleviated dendrite growth and improved utilization rate. Moreover, the rapid IOR process enables stable battery operation at -20 °C, further broadening the application scenarios of ZABs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103630
JournalEnergy Storage Materials
Volume71
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2024

Keywords

  • Electrolyte additive
  • Energy efficiency
  • Salting-in
  • Zn anode
  • Zn-air battery

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • General Materials Science
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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