The aqueous zinc-ion battery has the advantages of environmental friendliness, safety, and reliability, which is expected to be used for large-scale energy storage. However, due to the high activity of water, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) easily occurs on the surface of the zinc anode during the charge-discharge process, which is accompanied by corrosion, by-products, and dendrite formation. Herein, a new-type eutectic electrolyte consisting of ZnCl 2 , tetramethylurea (TMU), and H 2 O with the optimal molar ratio of 1:3:1 (ZT-1) is developed for the high-stability zinc anodes. The H 2 O in this system is doubly bound through the coordination with Zn 2+ and the hydrogen bonding with TMU, thus leading to the greatly inhibited activity of H 2 O. In addition, the H 2 O and TMU are successively stripped during the desolvation process of ZnCl 2 (TMU)(H 2 O), followed by the deposition of [ZnCl 2 ] at the zinc interface. In this way, the tendency of HER, corrosion, dendrites, and by-products induced by the decomposition of H 2 O molecules at the zinc interface is minimized, enabling a much more stable plating/stripping process of Zn 2+ . Consequently, the Zn//Zn symmetric cell can stably cycle for >2000 h, while the Zn//Cu half cell can stably cycle 800 times with an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.5%.
The electrode based on conversion reaction of Mn2+/MnO2 is regarded as a promising cathode for aqueous proton batteries (APBs) due to its high redox potential and cost-effectivity, but it needs...
Rechargeable zinc-ion batteries based on aqueous electrolytes are advantageous in terms of being environmentally friendly, safe and low cost. However, the problems of zinc dendrites and irreversible by-products on the Zn metal surface during the charging and discharging processes limit its practical application. Herein, octenyl phenol polyoxyethylene ether-10 (OP-10) with an oxygen-rich chain is used as an electrolyte additive to significantly improve the stability of the Zn anode. With an ultralow addition content of about 0.1 wt %, the OP-10 can not only promote the uniform deposition of Zn 2 + by adjusting the growth orientation of the (002) crystal plane of Zn but also alleviate side-reaction on the metal surface. Thus, the Zn//Zn cell is stable for more than 800 hours at 1 mA cm À 2 , and the Zn//Cu cell has a Coulombic efficiency of up to 99.80 %. Further, the Zn//V 2 O 5 • 1.6H 2 O battery exhibits outstanding cycle stability over 1000 cycles (maintain 92.12 % at 10 C), which is much superior to pure ZnSO 4 electrolyte. OP-10 not only reduces cost but also increases battery energy density, which is more in line with the modification idea of "small dose and large effect" of additives.
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