Yi Zhehan, Jia Jingjing, Yang Jin-Lin, Yu Jin, Tan Shandong, Li Jia, Liu Xiaoqing, Sang Zhiyuan, Yin Lichang, Liu Huan, Liang Ji, Hou Feng
Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology of Ministry of Education School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme - Collaborative Initiative, Graduate College, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637371, Singapore.
Small. 2024 Dec;20(50):e2405300. doi: 10.1002/smll.202405300. Epub 2024 Sep 23.
Zn ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising for large-scale energy storage but their practical application is plagued by inhomogeneous Zn deposition. Despite much effort, the harm of simultaneous hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during plating to Zn deposition, has not received sufficient studies. Herein, Sn-modified Cu nanowires (Sn@CuNWs) with Sn-Cu core-shell nanostructure to achieve uniform Zn deposition by zinc affinity-HER tendency trade-off are fabricated. Confirmed by both theoretical calculation and practical characterization, the nanowires with high zinc affinity and large deposition sites facilitate Zn deposition, while the enlarged HER tendency harmful to Zn plating is inhibited by Sn nanoshell. Therefore, the Zn deposited Sn@CuNWs anode delivers a long lifespan of 800 h at 5 mA cm, and the full cell exhibits a high capacity of 294.4 mAh g at 5 A g and a high capacity retention of 97.8% after 2500 cycles. This work reveals the importance of HER regulation for reversible Zn deposition, which should be noticed in further research.
锌离子电池（ZIBs）在大规模储能方面具有广阔前景，但其实际应用却受到锌不均匀沉积的困扰。尽管人们付出了诸多努力，但电镀过程中同时发生的析氢反应（HER）对锌沉积的危害尚未得到充分研究。在此，制备了具有Sn-Cu核壳纳米结构的Sn修饰铜纳米线（Sn@CuNWs），通过锌亲和力-析氢反应倾向的权衡来实现均匀的锌沉积。经理论计算和实际表征证实，具有高锌亲和力和大沉积位点的纳米线有利于锌沉积，而对锌电镀有害的析氢反应倾向的增大则被Sn纳米壳抑制。因此，沉积有锌的Sn@CuNWs阳极在5 mA cm下具有800 h的长寿命，全电池在5 A g下表现出294.4 mAh g的高容量，并且在2500次循环后具有97.8%的高容量保持率。这项工作揭示了析氢反应调控对可逆锌沉积的重要性，这在进一步研究中应予以关注。
