Regulating Uniform Zn Deposition via Hybrid Artificial Layer for Stable Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) have great potential as promising candidates for next-generation energy conversion and storage devices, benefiting from competitive theoretical capacity, low cost, and high security. However, further applications of ZIBs are impeded by dendrite generation and side reactions. Herein, considering that Zn dendrites are caused by nonuniform metal deposition, involving uneven electric field and Zn2+ ion flux, a dual-functional carbon-coated NaTi2(PO4)3 (NTP-C) artificial protective layer with large surface area is constructed onto the surface of metallic Zn to stabilize Zn anode and regulate uniform Zn deposition. Benefiting from a synergistic strategy, NTP-C coating not only takes advantages of carbon to provide abundant Zn deposition sites to homogenize nucleation, adjust electric field distribution, and reduce local current density but also utilizes the ionic channel in NTP structure to modulate the distribution of Zn2+ flux at the same time. Consequently, the NTP-C@Zn symmetrical cell exhibits a stable cycling for more than 600 h with a low polarization (18.6 mV) at 1 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2. Especially, the NTP-C@Zn symmetrical cell even enables a steady plating/stripping process at a harsh condition (100 mA cm−2) without short circuit, indicating a potential application of high-load electrodes or supercapacitors. Furthermore, the NTP-C@Zn//α-MnO2 full cell also displays enhanced electrochemical performance for 1200 cycles with a capacity retention of 76.6% under 5 C (~1.5 A g−1). This work provides a synergistic strategy combining two protective mechanisms and delivers new inspirations for the improvement of stable Zn anode in aqueous ZIBs.

Engineering techniques to dendrite free Zinc-based rechargeable batteries

“…Currently, porous carbon materials, copper foam, nickel foam, and foil are the most often utilized substrates. On the other hand, a crucial aspect of substrates’ characteristics is their zinc nucleation overpotential ( Yang et al ). Low nucleation overpotential will result in a smaller potential barrier to overcome, allowing for uniform zinc deposition and improved zinc plating/stripping reversibility.…”

Interfacial regulation of aqueous synthesized metal-semiconductor hetero-nanocrystals

“…In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in the synthetic control of NCs, including size, morphology, composition, and so on (Costi et al, 2010;Hunt et al, 2016;Jansons and Hutchison, 2016;Ma et al, 2016;Nasilowski et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2021;Adenle et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2022a;Zheng et al, 2022). As an important component of NCs, heterostructures have also been extensively studied, and the main synthesis methods include epitaxial growth, deposition, etc (Mokari et al, 2004;Sun et al, 2009;Carbone and Cozzoli, 2010;Yang and Ying, 2011;Chen et al, 2012;Ji et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2022). The epitaxial growth method refers to the reaction of growing a crystalline material on another crystalline substrate with a well-defined surface, which follows the similar crystal orientation or lattice spacings (Tan et al, 2018).…”

Melamine Foam-Derived Carbon Scaffold for Dendrite-Free and Stable Zinc Metal Anode

“…Until now, many efforts have been devoted to solving the aforementioned problems, including surface modification of Zn metal anodes [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], electrolyte optimization [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], novel separator design [ 20 ] and three-dimensional (3D) host design [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. For example, He et al [ 25 ] deposited an ultrathin Al 2 O 3 film on the Zn anode via the atomic layer deposition method, which effectively improved the interfacial wettability of the Zn anode and thus physically suppressed the formation of Zn dendrites.…”

“…However, the presence of this insulating layer increases the internal impedance of the cell, hinders electron transport, and reduces the kinetics of the cell redox reaction [ 26 ]. To tackle this problem, some highly conductive carbon-based materials have been coated or composited with Zn anodes, such as hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne [ 14 ], zinc microspheres/carbon nanotubes/nanocellulose composite film [ 15 ], and carbon-coated NaTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 [ 16 ], successfully regulating uniform Zn deposition. For example, a dual-functional carbon-coated NaTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (NTP-C) artificial protective layer with a large surface area was constructed onto the surface of metallic Zn by Wu and co-workers [ 16 ].…”

“…To tackle this problem, some highly conductive carbon-based materials have been coated or composited with Zn anodes, such as hydrogen-substituted graphdiyne [ 14 ], zinc microspheres/carbon nanotubes/nanocellulose composite film [ 15 ], and carbon-coated NaTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 [ 16 ], successfully regulating uniform Zn deposition. For example, a dual-functional carbon-coated NaTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (NTP-C) artificial protective layer with a large surface area was constructed onto the surface of metallic Zn by Wu and co-workers [ 16 ]. Benefiting from a synergistic strategy, NTP-C coating not only takes advantage of carbon to provide abundant Zn deposition sites to homogenize nucleation, adjust electric field distribution, and reduce local current density but also utilizes the ionic channel in NTP structure to modulate the distribution of Zn 2+ flux at the same time.…”