Wan Ziming, Zhou Weihua, Chen Zhuo, Wang Jian, Feng Haoyu, Sheng Lin, Feng Junrun, Hao Zhangxiang
School of Science, School of Chip Industry, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430068, China.
School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Suzhou University, Suzhou, Anhui, 234000, China.
Small. 2025 Jun 19:e2502128. doi: 10.1002/smll.202502128.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have gained significant traction in large-scale energy storage due to their notable safety and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, their commercialization has been significantly hindered by long-term issues such as dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution reaction, and other side reactions. In this study, it is proposed a chemical wet etching method that is both simple and highly scalable. This method effectively removes the natural passivation layer on the Zn surface, creating a metal-organic artificial interfacial layer (TAU-60@Zn). This layer exhibits a low nucleation barrier and a high ion transfer number, thereby promoting the rapid and uniform deposition of Zn ions. Furthermore, TAU-60@Zn assists in maintaining the pH at the electrolyte/anode interface, thereby effectively hindering the hydrogen evolution reaction and other undesirable side reactions. Consequently, the symmetric cell assembled with TAU-60@Zn attains an exceptional cycle life of over 2925 h at a current density of 5 mA cm, and 180 h at 34.2% depth of discharge (DOD). Furthermore, the full cell with a MnO cathode retains 46% of its capacity after 1000 cycles, compared to just 30% for the MnO//Zn cell. This chemical etching strategy offers a promising path forward for the commercial application of AZIBs.
水系锌离子电池（AZIBs）因其显著的安全性和成本效益，在大规模储能领域受到了广泛关注。然而，枝晶生长、析氢反应和其他副反应等长期问题严重阻碍了其商业化进程。在本研究中，提出了一种简单且高度可扩展的化学湿法蚀刻方法。该方法有效地去除了锌表面的自然钝化层，形成了一种金属有机人工界面层（TAU-60@Zn）。该层具有低成核势垒和高离子转移数，从而促进锌离子的快速均匀沉积。此外，TAU-60@Zn有助于维持电解质/阳极界面处的pH值，从而有效抑制析氢反应和其他不良副反应。因此，采用TAU-60@Zn组装的对称电池在5 mA cm的电流密度下，循环寿命超过2925 h，在放电深度（DOD）为34.2%时循环寿命为180 h。此外，与MnO//Zn电池仅保留30%的容量相比，具有MnO阴极的全电池在1000次循环后仍保留46%的容量。这种化学蚀刻策略为AZIBs的商业应用提供了一条有前景的途径。
