Issue 4, 2022

An anticorrosive zinc metal anode with ultra-long cycle life over one year

Abstract

Metallic zinc has been considered an ideal anode material in aqueous Zn-based batteries due to its high capacity and low redox potential. In addition to dendrites, Zn anodes suffer an additional threat from the inevitable hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) that occurs during the electrochemical process. This HER issue plays a rather insidious role in decreasing the performance of Zn anodes and has not yet been clearly elucidated. Herein, the suppression of HER is achieved by modifying the Zn anode with indium, enabling an ultra-dense and rock-like plating morphology without the formation of zinc hydroxide sulfate hydrate. Through detailed observations using scanning electron microscopy, the relationship between morphology evolution and HER under different current densities and during cycling has been highlighted. Additionally, both reduced polarizations for Zn plating and stripping are achieved after modification. Very impressively, the cycle life of the Zn symmetric cell is dramatically improved from 70 h to over 1 year (>9000 h) after indium modification. The full cells coupled with MnO2 cathodes can deliver 250 mA h g−1 after 300 cycles with a capacity retention of 99%. This work reveals that the suppression of HER is a significant route to promote the performance of Zn anodes.

Graphical abstract: An anticorrosive zinc metal anode with ultra-long cycle life over one year

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Dec 2021
Accepted
26 Jan 2022
First published
17 Mar 2022

Energy Environ. Sci., 2022,15, 1638-1646

An anticorrosive zinc metal anode with ultra-long cycle life over one year

P. Xiao, H. Li, J. Fu, C. Zeng, Y. Zhao, T. Zhai and H. Li, Energy Environ. Sci., 2022, 15, 1638 DOI: 10.1039/D1EE03882F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements