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Highly reversible Zn anode enabled by anticatalytic carbon layer with suppressed hydrogen evolution

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Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as a promising high-efficiency energy storage system due to the high energy density, low-cost and environmental friendliness. However, the practical application of AZIBs is severely restricted by the challenges faced by the Zn anode, which include uncontrollable dendrite growth, corrosion and hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, a simple and convenient physical vapor deposition (PVD) method is reported for fabricating uniform graphite as a protection layer on the surface of Zn anode. The high conductivity graphite layer on Zn anode (denoted as Zn@C) not only benefits the uniform distribution of the electric field, but also provides numerous Zn nucleation sites to regulate and navigate Zn-ion stripping/plating behaviors. Additionally, the graphite layer with a poor catalytic activity endows the Zn@C anode with a highly suppressed hydrogen evolution. Consequently, a hydrogen and dendrite free anode is achieved with artificial anticatalytic carbon layer on Zn anode, exhibiting a high reversibility and excellent cycling stability over 2600 h at the current density of 5 mA·cm−2 with a capacity of 2.5 mAh·cm−2 and longtime cycling stability for assembled full cells. This work strategically designs the properties of the artificial interface layer to effectively address various challenges simultaneously, which presents insights for the future development of high-performance rechargeable AZIBs.

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摘要

抑制析氢的抗催化碳层助力高度可逆的锌负极.

张文多, 孙闯, 朱俞宣*, 高峰*, 赖超*

江苏师范大学.

摘要 (Chinese Abstract): 水系锌离子电池 (AZIBs) 具有能量密度高、成本低和环境友好性的特点被视为最有前景储能系统之一。然而, 锌负极面临的枝晶不可控生长、腐蚀和析氢问题严重限制了锌离子电池在实际应用中的发展。本文通过简单的物理气相沉积法 (PVD) 在锌负极构筑了一层均匀的石墨保护层。石墨界面层所具备的高导电性不仅有利于电场的均匀分布, 且均匀分布的石墨提供了大量的锌成核位点, 有利于调控和诱导锌离子的沉积-剥离行为。此外, 石墨的抗催化活性对析氢反应具有良好的抑制作用, 这赋予石墨界面修饰的锌负极 (Zn@C) 在循环过程中可有效抑制氢气产生。因此, 通过在锌负极构筑具有抗催化析氢活性的碳层有助于解决锌负极析氢枝晶问题所带来的挑战。基于石墨界面修饰对称电池可以在5 mA·cm−2的电流密度和2.5 mAh·cm−2面容量的条件下, 稳定循环2600小时, 且所组装的全电池同样展现了优异的电化学性能。本工作通过设计具有抗催化活性的功能性人工界面层, 可以协同解决锌负极所面临的不同挑战, 为推进AZIBs的实用化进程和未来发展提供了新见解。

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Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22222902) and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20200047).

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  1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Wen-Duo Zhang, Chuang Sun, Yu-Xuan Zhu, Feng Gao & Chao Lai

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Zhang, WD., Sun, C., Zhu, YX. et al. Highly reversible Zn anode enabled by anticatalytic carbon layer with suppressed hydrogen evolution. Rare Met. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-024-02673-1

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