Wang Luyao, Zhou Shaojie, Yang Kai, Huang Weiwei, Ogata Shigenobu, Gao Lei, Pu Xiong
CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101400, China.
School of Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Mar;11(12):e2307667. doi: 10.1002/advs.202307667. Epub 2024 Jan 18.
The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and Zn dendrites growth are two entangled detrimental effects hindering the application of aqueous Zn batteries. The alloying strategy is studied to be a convenient avenue to stabilize Zn anodes, but there still lacks global understanding when selecting reliable alloy elements. Herein, it is proposed to evaluate the Zn alloying elements in a holistic way by considering their effects on HER, zincphilicity, price, and environmental-friendliness. Screening selection sequence is established through the theoretical evaluation of 17 common alloying elements according to their effects on hydrogen evolution and Zn nucleation thermodynamics. Two alloy electrodes with opposite predicted effects are prepared for experimental demonstration, i.e., HER-inhibiting Bi and HER-exacerbating Ni. Impressively, the optimum ZnBi alloy anode exhibits one order of magnitude lower hydrogen evolution rate than that of the pure Zn, leading to an ultra-long plating/stripping cycling life for more than 11 000 cycles at a high current density of 20 mA cm and 81% capacity retention for 170 cycles in a Zn-VO pouch cell. The study not only proposes a holistic alloy selection principle for Zn anode but also identifies a practically effective alloy element.
析氢反应（HER）和锌枝晶生长是阻碍水系锌电池应用的两个相互纠缠的有害效应。合金化策略被认为是稳定锌负极的一条便捷途径，但在选择可靠的合金元素时仍缺乏全面的认识。在此，提出通过考虑合金元素对析氢反应、亲锌性、价格和环境友好性的影响，以整体的方式评估锌合金元素。根据17种常见合金元素对析氢反应和锌成核热力学的影响，通过理论评估建立了筛选选择顺序。制备了两种具有相反预测效果的合金电极用于实验验证，即抑制析氢的铋和加剧析氢的镍。令人印象深刻的是，最佳的ZnBi合金负极的析氢速率比纯锌低一个数量级，在20 mA cm的高电流密度下实现了超过11000次循环的超长镀/剥循环寿命，并且在锌-钒软包电池中170次循环后容量保持率为81%。该研究不仅提出了一种用于锌负极的整体合金选择原则，还确定了一种实际有效的合金元素。
