Yu Jingxuan, Chen Minfeng, Ma Hong, Liu Wenhui, Tian Qinghua, Chen Jizhang
Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2025 Aug 6;701:138635. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138635.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as a promising energy storage system due to their inherent safety, cost-effectiveness, large power density, and environmental sustainability. However, the widespread adoption of AZIBs is impeded by critical challenges associated with zinc anodes, including uncontrolled dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and corrosion, as well as the reliance on thick separators that reduce the battery's energy density. To overcome these limitations, this study introduces a separator-free AZIB design featuring a multifunctional protective coating composed of zinc monofluorophosphate and nanocellulose on the Zn electrode. The hybrid coating with a low thickness of 15 μm serves a dual purpose, not only mitigating dendrite formation and parasitic reactions but also eliminating the need for conventional separators. The electrochemical characterization reveals that the hybrid coating enables superior corrosion resistance, extended electrochemical stability window, improved Zn ion transport, facilitated desolvation process, lowered overpotential, and uniformized Zn deposition. Thanks to these benefits, the Zn//Zn cell offers a long life span up to 1200 h at 10 mA cm and 2 mAh cm, and the full battery delivers great rate capability and cycling stability even under a low negative-to-positive capacity ratio. This work provides an appropriate solution to the development of high-energy-density and durable AZIBs.
水系锌离子电池（AZIBs）因其固有的安全性、成本效益、高功率密度和环境可持续性，已成为一种很有前景的储能系统。然而，与锌负极相关的关键挑战阻碍了AZIBs的广泛应用，这些挑战包括不受控制的枝晶生长、析氢和腐蚀，以及对降低电池能量密度的厚隔膜的依赖。为了克服这些限制，本研究引入了一种无隔膜的AZIB设计，其特点是在锌电极上有一层由一氟磷酸锌和纳米纤维素组成的多功能保护涂层。这种厚度仅为15μm的复合涂层具有双重作用，不仅可以减轻枝晶形成和寄生反应，还消除了对传统隔膜的需求。电化学表征表明，这种复合涂层具有优异的耐腐蚀性、扩展的电化学稳定性窗口、改善的锌离子传输、促进的去溶剂化过程、降低的过电位以及均匀的锌沉积。得益于这些优点，锌//锌电池在10 mA cm和2 mAh cm的条件下可提供长达1200小时的长寿命，并且即使在低负正容量比下，全电池也具有出色的倍率性能和循环稳定性。这项工作为高能量密度和耐用的AZIBs的开发提供了一个合适的解决方案。
