Wang Kaixin, He Yuting, Yuan Ruduan, Chen Zhaoyu, Gou Qianzhi, Zhang Sida, Mei Huaping, Zheng Yujie, Wang John, Li Meng
National Innovation Center for Industry-Education Integration of Energy Storage, MOE Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, CQU-NUS Renewable Energy Materials & Devices Joint Laboratory, College of Energy & Power Engineering, Chongqing University Chongqing 400044 China
School of Building Services Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology Xi'an 710055 China.
Chem Sci. 2025 Apr 1;16(17):7227-7238. doi: 10.1039/d5sc00040h. eCollection 2025 Apr 30.
Alkaline byproducts at the zinc anode interface continue to exacerbate subsequent side reactions, so realizing timely salvage of electrodes is equally important compared to upfront prevention strategies. Although the utilization of acid electrolytes could eliminate by-products on the Zn anode, they inevitably exacerbate the undesired hydrogen evolution reaction. Therefore, achieving elimination of by-products without exacerbating other side reactions is urgently needed. Inspired by the immune protection mechanisms in organisms, facile cysteamine hydrochloride (Cy-H) additives were incorporated into the aqueous electrolyte to stabilize the anode. Concretely, the Cy-H additives can reconstruct the electrical double layer (EDL) on the Zn anode and inhibit drastic parasitic reactions and cooperate with electric fields and acidic environments, thus achieving the desired effect of targeted elimination of alkaline by-products. Ultimately, with a long calendar lifespan of 2000 h with a Zn anode carrying by-products and outstanding performance over 8000 cycles for the Zn‖I full cell, the assembled pouch battery also achieved 1000 cycles without capacity degradation. To further promote the practical applications, the inhibition mechanism of Cy-H additives on full-cell self-discharge was revealed. This work provides new insights for the use of strong acid electrolytes and the elimination of interfacial by-products in aqueous zinc-iodine batteries.
锌阳极界面处的碱性副产物会持续加剧后续的副反应，因此与前期预防策略相比，实现电极的及时挽救同样重要。尽管使用酸性电解质可以消除锌阳极上的副产物，但它们不可避免地会加剧不期望的析氢反应。因此，迫切需要在不加剧其他副反应的情况下实现副产物的消除。受生物体免疫保护机制的启发，将简便的盐酸半胱胺（Cy-H）添加剂引入水性电解质中以稳定阳极。具体而言，Cy-H添加剂可以在锌阳极上重构双电层（EDL），抑制剧烈的寄生反应，并与电场和酸性环境协同作用，从而实现有针对性地消除碱性副产物的预期效果。最终，带有副产物的锌阳极在2000小时的长循环寿命下以及锌碘全电池在超过8000次循环中具有出色性能，组装的软包电池也实现了1000次循环且无容量衰减。为了进一步推动实际应用，揭示了Cy-H添加剂对全电池自放电的抑制机制。这项工作为在水性锌碘电池中使用强酸电解质和消除界面副产物提供了新的见解。
