Sun Limeng, Cao Xianjun, Gao Li, Li Jiayi, Qian Chen, Wu Jinhu, Nie Xinming, Gao Hong, Huang Peng, Zhao Yufei, Wang Yong, Zhang Jinqiang, Wang Guoxiu, Liu Hao
Joint International Laboratory on Environmental and Energy Frontier Materials, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, People's Republic of China.
Centre for Clean Energy Technology, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia.
Nanomicro Lett. 2025 May 20;17(1):262. doi: 10.1007/s40820-025-01782-5.
Rechargeable zinc-ion batteries have emerged as one of the most promising candidates for large-scale energy storage applications due to their high safety and low cost. However, the use of Zn metal in batteries suffers from many severe issues, including dendrite growth and parasitic reactions, which often lead to short cycle lives. Herein, we propose the construction of functional organic interfacial layers (OIL) on the Zn metal anodes to address these challenges. Through a well-designed organic-assist pre-construction process, a densely packed artificial layer featuring the immobilized zwitterionic molecular brush can be constructed, which can not only efficiently facilitate the smooth Zn plating and stripping, but also introduce a stable environment for battery reactions. Through density functional theory calculations and experimental characterizations, we verify that the immobilized organic propane sulfonate on Zn anodes can significantly lower the energy barrier and increase the kinetics of Zn transport. Thus, the Zn metal anode with the functional OIL can significantly improve the cycle life of the symmetric cell to over 3500 h stable operation. When paired with the HVO cathode, the aqueous Zn-ion full cells can be continuously cycled over 7000 cycles, marking an important milestone for Zn anode development for potential industrial applications.
由于其高安全性和低成本，可充电锌离子电池已成为大规模储能应用中最有前景的候选者之一。然而，在电池中使用锌金属存在许多严重问题，包括枝晶生长和寄生反应，这往往导致短循环寿命。在此，我们提出在锌金属阳极上构建功能性有机界面层（OIL）以应对这些挑战。通过精心设计的有机辅助预构建过程，可以构建出具有固定两性离子分子刷的致密人工层，它不仅可以有效地促进锌的平滑电镀和剥离，还可以为电池反应引入稳定的环境。通过密度泛函理论计算和实验表征，我们验证了锌阳极上固定的有机丙烷磺酸盐可以显著降低能垒并提高锌传输的动力学。因此，具有功能性OIL的锌金属阳极可以将对称电池的循环寿命显著提高到超过3500小时的稳定运行。当与HVO阴极配对时，水系锌离子全电池可以连续循环超过7000次，这标志着锌阳极在潜在工业应用开发方面的一个重要里程碑。
