Issue 38, 2022

Non-flammable, dilute, and hydrous organic electrolytes for reversible Zn batteries

Abstract

Rechargeable Zn batteries hold great practicability for cost-effective sustainable energy storage but suffer from irreversibility of the Zn anode in aqueous electrolytes due to parasitic H2 evolution, corrosion, and dendrite growth. Herein, we report a non-flammable, dilute, and hydrous organic electrolyte by dissolving low-cost hydrated Zn(ClO4)2·6H2O in trimethyl phosphate (TMP), which homogenizes plating/stripping and enables in situ formation of a Zn3(PO4)2–ZnCl2-rich interphase to stabilize the Zn anode. A dilute 0.5 m Zn(ClO4)2·6H2O/TMP electrolyte featuring a H2O-poor Zn2+-solvation sheath and low water activity enables significantly enhanced Zn reversibility and a wider electrochemical window than the concentrated counterpart. In this formulated electrolyte, the Zn anode exhibits a high efficiency of 99.5% over 500 cycles, long-term cycling for 1200 h (5 mA h cm−2 at 5 mA cm−2) and stable operation at 50 °C. The results would guide the design of hydrous organic electrolytes for practical rechargeable batteries employing metallic electrode materials.

Graphical abstract: Non-flammable, dilute, and hydrous organic electrolytes for reversible Zn batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
25 jul 2022
Accepted
26 aug 2022
First published
27 aug 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 11320-11329

Non-flammable, dilute, and hydrous organic electrolytes for reversible Zn batteries

G. Ma, L. Miao, W. Yuan, K. Qiu, M. Liu, X. Nie, Y. Dong, N. Zhang and F. Cheng, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 11320 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC04143J

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