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Dendrite-free and stable Zn metal anodes with ZnO protective layer

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Abstract

Metallic Zn can be used as an anode for aqueous zinc-ion batteries due to its low redox potential, rich resources, and high theoretical capacity. However, its practical application is limited by dendrite growth and side reactions. Herein, a simple in-situ growth strategy was applied to fabricate a Zn anode with a ZnO protective layer (Zn/ZnO) to lengthen the cycle life and inhibit the dendrite growth and side reactions. At 1 mA h cm−2 capacity, Zn/ZnO exhibits long-time stability (2500 h) at 1 mA cm−2 and outstanding rate capability (1000 h at 10 mA cm−2) in symmetrical cells. Furthermore, the average coulombic efficiency of the Zn/ZnO//Ti cell is 99.4%, which is desirable at 5 mA cm−2. In addition, the Zn/ZnO//MnO2 cell can maintain a specific capacity of 167.2 mA h g−1 after 800 stable cycles. This work presents a simple fabrication method for Zn anode with excellent performance and suggests the huge possibilities of implementing practically rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for New Energy Microgrid, College of Electrical Engineering & New Energy, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, 443002, China

    ZhenHua Hou, HuaChao Tao, JiaXu Wang, LuLu Zhang & XueLin Yang

Authors
  1. ZhenHua Hou
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  2. HuaChao Tao
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  3. JiaXu Wang
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  4. LuLu Zhang
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  5. XueLin Yang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to HuaChao Tao or XueLin Yang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 22179071 and 52072217).

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The supporting information is available online at https://tech.scichina.com and https://link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Hou, Z., Tao, H., Wang, J. et al. Dendrite-free and stable Zn metal anodes with ZnO protective layer. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 2361–2368 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2117-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2117-9

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