Zheng Jiaxian, Sufyan Ali, Li Chong, Han Zheng, Liu Xin, Zheng Yuguo, Larsson J Andreas, Huang Gang, Wei Binbin, Qi Zhengbing, Wang Zhoucheng, Zhang Qiugen, Liang Hanfeng
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory (IKKEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
Mater Horiz. 2025 Aug 11;12(16):6252-6260. doi: 10.1039/d5mh00358j.
Zn anodes in aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries (AZBs) are plagued by irreversibility issues stemming from dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and corrosion. The design of separator offers a promising approach to enhance the reversibility of Zn anodes, but a universal strategy for rational separator design remains elusive. In this study, we propose a comprehensive design principle that takes into account the selective binding with Zn, H and HO, and further suggest that separators should ideally exhibit strong binding strength with H and HO but weak with Zn. We explore four typical scenarios based on varying binding strengths and identify polyethersulfone (PES) as a highly promising separator through screening of various commercial separators. Both experiment and theoretical calculations reveal that PES effectively regulates the transfer of Zn, H and HO, thereby concurrently suppressing dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and corrosion. As a result, the Zn‖Zn symmetric battery can operate for over 4000 h at 1 mA cm and 1 mA h cm. Furthermore, the full battery can deliver an impressive lifespan of over 6400 cycles at 3 A g. This work not only introduces a new separator for high-performance AZBs but also provides guiding principles for functional separator design.
水系可充电锌电池（AZB）中的锌阳极受到枝晶生长、析氢和腐蚀等不可逆问题的困扰。隔膜的设计为提高锌阳极的可逆性提供了一种很有前景的方法，但合理设计隔膜的通用策略仍然难以捉摸。在本研究中，我们提出了一种综合设计原则，该原则考虑了与Zn、H和HO的选择性结合，并进一步表明，理想情况下，隔膜应与H和HO具有强结合力，而与Zn具有弱结合力。我们基于不同的结合强度探索了四种典型情况，并通过筛选各种商用隔膜确定聚醚砜（PES）是一种非常有前景的隔膜。实验和理论计算均表明，PES有效地调节了Zn、H和HO的迁移，从而同时抑制了枝晶生长、析氢和腐蚀。因此，Zn‖Zn对称电池在1 mA cm和1 mA h cm下可运行超过4000小时。此外，全电池在3 A g下可提供超过6400次循环的令人印象深刻的寿命。这项工作不仅为高性能AZB引入了一种新型隔膜，还为功能性隔膜设计提供了指导原则。
