Resist-Dyed Textile Alkaline Zn Microbatteries with Significantly Suppressed Zn Dendrite Growth

Abstract

The progress of electronic textiles relies on the development of sustainable power sources without much sacrifice of convenience and comfort of fabrics. Herein, we present a rechargeable textile alkaline Zn microbattery (micro-AZB) fabricated by a process analogous to traditional resist-dyeing techniques. Conductive patterned electrodes are realized first by resist-aided electroless/electrodeposition of Ni/Cu films. The resulting coplanar micro-AZB in a single textile, with an electroplated Zn anode and a Ni 0.7 Co 0.3 OOH cathode, achieves high energy density (256.2 Wh kg −1 ), high power density (10.3 kW kg −1 ), and stable cycling performances (82.7% for 1500 cycles). The solid-state micro-AZB also shows excellent mechanical reliability (bending, twisting, tailoring, etc.). The improved reversibility and cyclability of textile Zn electrodes over conventional Zn foils are found to be due to the significantly inhibited Zn dendrite growth and suppressed undesirable side reactions. This work provides a new approach for energy-storage textile with high rechargeability, high safety, and aesthetic design versatility.

Stretchable Textile Rechargeable Zn Batteries Enabled by a Wax Dyeing Method

“…After that, the Ni coating was deposited on the patterned textile by the electroless plating method, which is similar to the previous work. [ 24 ] The Cu coating was subsquently electrodeposited on the Ni‐coated textile in an aqueous solution (0.06 m NaHCO 3 , 0.09 m CuSO 4 ·H 2 O, 0.24 m Na 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 ·2H 2 O, and 0.08 m C 4 O 6 H 4 KNa) with a Cu film as both the counter and reference electrode for 30 min. The pH value of the aqueous solution was adjusted to 10 by adding 10 wt% NaOH solution before the deposition process.…”

“…It is also facile to fabricate flexible Zn batteries, as the anode metallic Zn and cathode oxides or hydroxides can be easily electroplated on flexible conductive substrates. Though flexible fiber‐ or fabric‐based rechargeable Zn batteries have been reported, [ 24,25 ] the research on stretchable textile Zn batteries is still limited. Some of the textile Zn batteries reported high capacities, but was short of stretchability or long cycle life.…”

Recent Advances in Polymer Electrolytes for Zinc Ion Batteries: Mechanisms, Properties, and Perspectives

“…As displayed in Figure 18 , Zn dendrites initially nucleate locally, then the freshly plated Zn is inclined to be the areas of the first nucleation, which contributes to the lower surface energy, especially at low current density. The concentration of ions and electrons near the Zn anode and electrolyte is different, leading to a concentration polarization, meanwhile, the electric filed is concentrated and enhanced at the dendrite tip sites following with the local growth of Zn dendrites and the existence of protrusions on the surface of zinc 148,187–189. In order to retard the concentration polarization and benefit the metal anode stripping/plating processes, the cation transport number needs be close to unity 190.…”

“…Because such a structure can endow higher active surface area, the average size of Zn dendrites can be decreased, suppressing the dendritic growth. Furthermore, Zn deposition on 3D substrate, such as carbon fibers,136,180 wearable textile,148 or carbon nanotube film,139 is able to alleviate the volume change of Zn dendrites, demonstrating that the anode with high active surface is helpful in stabilizing SEI.…”

“…b) Schematic diagrams of the morphologies of Zn deposited on Zn foil. Reproduced with permission 148. Copyright 2019, American Chemical Society.…”