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Functionalizing the interfacial double layer to enable uniform zinc deposition

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Abstract

Due to the unsatisfactory electrode/electrolyte interface, the metallic Zn dendrites and corrosion are easily induced, severely hindering the applications of zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). Herein, a strategy that engineers the interfacial double layer by an extremely low concentration of sulfolane is proposed to tune the Zn stripping/plating behavior. It is revealed that the highly-polar sulfolane can predominately occupy the inner Helmholtz layer over water, and then regulate the upcoming Zn2+ to directly deposit downward. Simultaneously, the widened Helmholtz layer can weaken the electric field intensity, which will generate more nucleation sites and reduce the nuclei radius, thereby promoting uniform zinc deposition as well. Moreover, corrosion byproducts can be inhibited since fewer water molecules can contact the Zn electrodes. Consequently, the battery performance can be naturally optimized. With an optimum amount of sulfolane, the Zn∥Zn battery can operate for more than 1,100 h under 1 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2. And the as-constructed Zn∥NaV3O8·1.5H2O battery demonstrates considerably higher cycling stability than that without sulfolane. Overall, this work has provided a deep insight into constructing a functional interfacial double layer to regulate zinc deposition, which can also act as a reference for other metal-based batteries.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (22272205, 21975289 and U19A2019), Hunan Province Natural Science Foundation (2020JJ5694), Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project of China (2017TP1001, 2018RS3009 and 2020JJ2042) and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities.

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Yihu Li, Hao Wang, Tingqing Wu, Chunlin Xie, Zefang Yang, Qi Zhang, Dan Sun, Yougen Tang & Haiyan Wang

  2. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Liang Fu

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  1. Yihu Li
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  2. Hao Wang
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Correspondence to Dan Sun, Liang Fu or Haiyan Wang.

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Supporting information The supporting information is available online at https://chem.scichina.com and https://link.springer.com/journal/11426. 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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Li, Y., Wang, H., Wu, T. et al. Functionalizing the interfacial double layer to enable uniform zinc deposition. Sci. China Chem. 66, 1844–1853 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-022-1590-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-022-1590-y

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