"One stone, three birds", integrated ‘all-in-one’ strategy to achieve high-performance zinc-ion batteries

This study is led by the energy team of Professor Shu-Quan Liang and Jiang Zhou from Central South University (CSU). Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), with their cost efficiency, high safety, low toxicity, and high energy density, are competitive and popular in large-scale energy storage. A highly stable zinc anode is the key guarantee for the realization of high-performance zinc-ion batteries. Facing the complicated issues faced by the zinc anode, an “all-in-one” (AIO) integrated electrode was proposed and designed in this paper, which combined with the representative modification strategies of structural design, interface modification, and electrolyte optimization.

For zinc metal anodes, several feasible strategies have been reported to improve their performance. The representative strategies are structural design, interface modification, and electrolyte optimization. Although the above methods can improve the performance of zinc anodes to a certain degree, they can also simultaneously cause some negative effects. The strategy of structural design is to achieve a homogenized electric field distribution by increasing the electrode area and then suppressing dendrites, but at the same time, it also causes an increase in hydrogen evolution and corrosion rates to reduce the battery's Coulombic efficiency and zinc utilization. The strategy of interfacial modification can avoid the direct contact of the electrode/electrolyte, effectively inhibit corrosion, and achieve uniform ion deposition, but it will cause the increase of internal resistance and hinder the transmission of electrons/ions. Gel electrolyte is the best choice for flexible zinc ion energy storage devices. It has the positive effect of reducing dendrites, side reactions and inhibiting gas evolution. However, due to the poor fluidity of gel electrolyte, it is in a state of "point contact" with the electrode, which makes it difficult to adapt to the volume effect and regulation function of the electrode during cycling.

Facing these challenges, recently, inspired by a "one stone, three birds" strategy that combine the advantages of the above three modification strategies, this paper proposed an “all-in-one” (AIO) integrated structural design by combining the strategies of structural design, interface modification, and electrolyte optimization. This AIO electrode retains the advantages of the traditional 3D anode, which can effectively inhibit the side reactions caused by gas precipitation and active water molecules. It also achieved sufficient electrode/electrolyte interface contact area, constructed a new tight electrode/gel electrolyte ion transport channel, promoted fast electron/ion transfer of the electrode. Based on the AIO system, the full battery with NH₄V₄O₁₀ and α-MnO₂ as the positive electrode shows good stability and rate performance. The integrated modification strategy will provide new solutions to the slow ion migration and interfacial side reactions in the current zinc metal anodes, promoting the rapid development of aqueous zinc-based batteries.

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See the article:

Integrated ‘all-in-one’ strategy to stabilize zinc anodes for high-performance zinc-ion batteries

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwab177

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