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High-adhesion anionic copolymer as solid-state electrolyte for dendrite-free Zn-ion battery

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Abstract

To conquer severe dendrites formation and side reactions of zinc metal anodes, which are serious obstacles for the practical applications of aqueous zinc ion battery (ZIB), herein, we develop a sodium allysulfonate (SAS) and acrylamide (AM) copolymer by radical polymerization process (crosslinking of C=C) as solid-state electrolyte. The interface kinetics is improved remarkably due to the high adhesion and excellent ion transferability of AM-SAS (AS) copolymers. Especially the sulfonic acid group in the hydrogel electrolyte can enhance the internal ionic conductivity effectively benefiting from its high affinity to Zn2+. Also, polymer chains realize re-regulation to Zn2+ flow in atomic-scale, thus leading to controllable deposition of Zn onto the dendrite-free Zn anodes. Consequently, the AS-1.5 electrolyte achieves ultra-stable Zn deposition/stripping behaviors with the lifespan over 1,000 h via the suppression of side-reactions and paralleled Zn deposition. High performances of Zn/Mn-doped V2O5 (MnVO) (over 500 cycles) and Zn/diquinoxalino [2,3-a:2′,3′-c] phenazine (HATN) (over 2,500 cycles) full cells demonstrate that the AS hydrogel electrolyte is a common approach for ZIBs under various conditions. This molecular regulation engineering opens a novel route for hydrogel electrolyte fabrication, where sulfonic groups perform as media of Zn2+ transfer. Therefore, high bulk ionic conductivity as well as excellent interface ion diffusion ability is obtained.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51802171 and 52072197), Outstanding Youth Foundation of Shandong Province, China (No. ZR2019JQ14), Taishan Scholar Young Talent Program (No. tsqn201909114), and Major Basic Research Program of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2020ZD09).

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  1. Jiaxu Li and Junfeng Ren contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory Base of Eco-chemical Engineering, Taishan Scholar Advantage and Characteristic Discipline Team of Eco-chemical Process and Technology, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Jiaxu Li, Junfeng Ren, Caixia Li, Pengxian Li, Tingting Wu & Lei Wang

  2. College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Jiaxu Li, Junfeng Ren, Pengxian Li, Tingting Wu & Shiwei Liu

  3. College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China

    Caixia Li & Lei Wang

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  1. Jiaxu Li
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Correspondence to Caixia Li or Lei Wang.

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Li, J., Ren, J., Li, C. et al. High-adhesion anionic copolymer as solid-state electrolyte for dendrite-free Zn-ion battery. Nano Res. 15, 7190–7198 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4370-y

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