Stable, high-performance, dendrite-free, seawater-based aqueous batteries

Abstract

Metal anode instability, including dendrite growth, metal corrosion, and hetero-ions interference, occurring at the electrolyte/electrode interface of aqueous batteries, are among the most critical issues hindering their widespread use in energy storage. Herein, a universal strategy is proposed to overcome the anode instability issues by rationally designing alloyed materials, using Zn-M alloys as model systems (M = Mn and other transition metals). An in-situ optical visualization coupled with finite element analysis is utilized to mimic actual electrochemical environments analogous to the actual aqueous batteries and analyze the complex electrochemical behaviors. The Zn-Mn alloy anodes achieved stability over thousands of cycles even under harsh electrochemical conditions, including testing in seawater-based aqueous electrolytes and using a high current density of 80 mA cm−2. The proposed design strategy and the in-situ visualization protocol for the observation of dendrite growth set up a new milestone in developing durable electrodes for aqueous batteries and beyond.

3D‐Printed Multi‐Channel Metal Lattices Enabling Localized Electric‐Field Redistribution for Dendrite‐Free Aqueous Zn Ion Batteries

“…The uneven distribution of flakey Zn dendrites will result in inhomogeneous electric field distribution and ion concentration at electrode-electrolyte interface, and subsequently favoring the dendrite growth. [18] By contrast, the 3D Ni-Zn equipped with highly-organized lattice structures shows a compact surface without any mossy-like dendrites.…”

Binary Atomically Dispersed Metal‐Site Catalysts with Core−Shell Nanostructures for O2 and CO2 Reduction Reactions

“…To further confirm the coordination environment of two different types of metal sites in the coreÀshell structured p-FeNC@CoNC catalyst, XAS analysis and fitting were conducted (Figure 4). [54,55] The Fe K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) is left of the FePc reference, which indicates that the oxidization state of Fe atoms is lower for the catalyst than for FePc (Figure 4a). Similarly, the Co K-edge XANES confirms that the Co oxidization state in p-FeNC@CoNC is approximately equal to CoPc (Figure 4d).…”

Sodium-Ion Battery Anode Construction with SnP x Crystal Domain in Amorphous Phosphorus Matrix

“…Also, the amorphous P can separate the metallic/semimetallic crystal domains from aggregation, while the amorphous carbon improves the electron conductivity of the composite [28]. The continuous amorphous matrix can also promote the uniform formation of charge/discharge products by tuning the nucleation process [39]. Moreover, one component in the composite may attenuate the volume change, inherent stress, and mechanical instability of another component because of their asynchronous and distinct reactions [40].…”