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Improving Zn anode electrochemical reversibility via crystallographic plane regulation by polyethylene glycol electrolyte additive

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Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are considered promising candidates for scalable and sustainable energy storage devices due to their low cost and high safety advantages. However, the practical application of AZIBs is subject to the limits of the reversibility of the Zn2+ stripping/plating, such as the growth of Zn dendrites, corrosion of Zn anode, and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we propose a solution to the issues of AZIBs by creating a versatile electrolyte via the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEG additive changes the coordination environment of Zn2+ and disturbs the solvation structure of H2O, which is beneficial to alleviate the side reactions triggered by water molecules in the Zn2+ solvation structure. In addition, the Zn2+ nucleation behavior is optimized by texturing the hexagonal deposition plane and inducing the compact-grained deposition manner to resist corrosion reactions and dendrite aggravation. The solvation structure of Zn2+ is optimized to improve the reversibility of the Zn anode. As a result, improved reversibility of Zn plating/stripping on the Cu-working electrode is achieved by 20% PEG electrolyte with high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.43% at 1 mA cm−2, stably cycled for 750 cycles. Furthermore, the Zn||Zn symmetrical half-cell with 20% PEG electrolyte shows stable plating/stripping overpotentials for more than 1400 h. Finally, the Zn||V2O5 full-cells exhibit excellent long cycling stability for over 180 cycles even at 1000 mA g−1 with a high reversible capacity of 168 mAh g−1. This work provides valuable insights into designing electrolytes for aqueous zinc metal batteries.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20220651), the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institution of China (21KJB480010), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51672114). This work was also supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (1112932004).

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,BK20220651,Xiaogang Li,Natural Science Research of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China,21KJB480010,Xiaogang Li,National Natural Science Foundation of China,51672114,Aihua Yuan

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaogang Li, Yanhui Zhou, Huan Tu, Zongnan Wang, Rui Wu, Yaokang Lu, Yujie Zong, Qian Liu, Jie He, Li Qian, Siyu Song, Yixian Zhang & Aihua Yuan

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Chunfeng Meng

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  1. Xiaogang Li
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Li, X., Zhou, Y., Tu, H. et al. Improving Zn anode electrochemical reversibility via crystallographic plane regulation by polyethylene glycol electrolyte additive. J Solid State Electrochem (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-024-05901-x

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