Tian Zhuocheng, Liu Hang, Cheng Mengyuan, Cui Lianmeng, Zhang Rongyu, Yang Xu, Wu Di, Wang Dongxue, Xia Jianlong
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Center of Smart Materials and Devices, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
International School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 May 1;16(17):21857-21867. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c01484. Epub 2024 Apr 18.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are emerging as promising sustainable energy-storage devices. However, their cyclic stability is still a great challenge due to the inevitable parasitic reaction and dendrite growth induced by water. Herein, a cosolvent strategy based on competitive effect is proposed to address the aforementioned challenges. Ethanol with a higher Gutmann donor number demonstrates lower polarity and better wettability on the Zn surface compared with water, which endows ethanol with the ability of minimizing water activity by weakening H bonds and preferentially adsorbing on the Zn electrode. The above competitive advantages synergistically contribute to inhibiting the decomposition of free water and dendrite growth. Besides, an organic-inorganic hybrid solid-electrolyte interphase layer is in situ built based on ethanol additives, where organic matrix suppresses water corrosion while inorganic fillers promote fast Zn diffusion. Consequently, the electrolyte with ethanol additives boosts a high reversibility of Zn deposition, long-term durability, as well as superior Zn diffusibility in both Zn half-cells (Zn||Cu and Zn||Zn batteries) and Zn full cells (Zn||PTCDA and Zn||VO batteries). This work sheds light on a universal strategy to design a high-reversible and dendrite-free Zn anode for stable aqueous batteries.
水系锌离子电池正成为有前景的可持续储能装置。然而，由于水引发的不可避免的寄生反应和枝晶生长，其循环稳定性仍然是一个巨大挑战。在此，提出一种基于竞争效应的共溶剂策略来应对上述挑战。与水相比，具有更高古特曼给体数的乙醇表现出更低的极性和对锌表面更好的润湿性，这赋予乙醇通过削弱氢键和优先吸附在锌电极上使水活性最小化的能力。上述竞争优势协同作用有助于抑制游离水的分解和枝晶生长。此外，基于乙醇添加剂原位构建了有机 - 无机混合固体电解质界面层，其中有机基体抑制水腐蚀，而无机填料促进锌的快速扩散。因此，添加乙醇添加剂的电解质在锌半电池（锌||铜和锌||锌电池）以及锌全电池（锌||PTCDA和锌||钒电池）中都具有高的锌沉积可逆性、长期耐久性以及优异的锌扩散性。这项工作为设计用于稳定水系电池的高可逆且无枝晶的锌阳极提供了一种通用策略。
