An in situ recovery method to prepare carbon-coated Zn–Al–hydrotalcite as the anode material for nickel–zinc secondary batteries

Abstract

Carbon-coated Zn–Al–hydrotalcite (Zn–Al–LDH) is firstly synthesized by an in situ recovery method and applied as a novel anode material for Ni/Zn secondary batteries. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements are carried out to investigate the structure and morphology of the as-prepared carbon-coated Zn–Al–LDH and the pristine Zn–Al–LDH. Meanwhile, the structure of each step synthetic product during an in situ recovery process are investigated through XRD measurements. The electrochemical performance of as-prepared carbon-coated Zn–Al–LDH and pristine Zn–Al–LDH are investigated through cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) measurements. Compared with pristine Zn–Al–LDH, the carbon-coated Zn–Al–LDH shows better reversibility, lower charge-transfer resistance and more stable cycling performance.