A New Zinc Salt Chemistry for Aqueous Zinc‐Metal Batteries

Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising energy storage solutions with low cost and superior safety, but they suffer from chemical and electrochemical degradations closely related to the electrolyte. Here, a new zinc salt design and a drop-in solution for long cycle-life aqueous ZIBs are reported. The salt Zn(BBI) 2 with a rationally designed anion group, N-(benzenesulfonyl)benzenesulfonamide (BBI − ), has a special amphiphilic molecular structure, which combines the benefits of hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups to properly tune the solubility and interfacial condition. This new zinc salt does not contain fluorine and is synthesized via a high-yield and low-cost method. It is shown that 1 m Zn(BBI) 2 aqueous electrolyte with a widened cathodic stability window effectively stabilizes Zn metal/H 2 O interface, mitigates chemical and electrochemical degradations, and enables both symmetric and full cells using a zinc-metal electrode.

High Energy Density Aqueous Zinc–Chalcogen (S, Se, Te) Batteries: Recent Progress, Challenges, and Perspective

“…Such a poor wetting property will hamper the mass transfer from discharge products to Zn metal, which leads to huge polarization and negative ionic diffusion. [ 190 ] Besides, slow kinetics of sulfur result in low utilization rate of active materials and large polarization, thereby reducing the energy density of ZCBs.…”

Dual-anion chemistry synchronously regulating the solvation structure and electric double layer for durable Zn metal anodes

“…Furthermore, salt anions not only compete with the solvent for coordinating Zn 2+ but also feature specific adsorption on the Zn surface, thereby concurrently shaping the solvation structure and EDL. [23][24][25][26][27][28] Nevertheless, the correlation between the anionic property and the induced interface is ambiguous. To this end, the priority is to establish selection criteria of anions for interconnecting their effect on the bulk solvation and interfacial EDL.…”

Designing Anti‐Swelling Nanocellulose Separators with Stable and Fast Ion Transport Channels for Efficient Aqueous Zinc‐Ion Batteries

“…[4][5][6][7] However, the uncontrolled Zn deposition and stripping process lead to the severe zinc dendrite growth by-product accumulation as well as the HER, which deteriorates the Coulomb efficiency and lead to the fast capacity fading of AZBs. [8][9][10][11][12] To address above issues, many solutions have been proposed so far, emphasizing on electrolyte additive formulation, [13][14][15][16] current collector modifications, [17,18] interlayer [19][20][21] functionalization between electrodes, and separators, [22,23] as well as solid electrolyte [24,25] to manipulate Zn deposition/stripping behavior. Regulation of the Zn ion flux on the electrode surface and the uniform electric field distribution are essential to ensure homogeneous nucleation and dendrite-free and durable Zn metal anodes.…”

“…To address above issues, many solutions have been proposed so far, emphasizing on electrolyte additive formulation, [ 13–16 ] current collector modifications, [ 17,18 ] interlayer [ 19–21 ] functionalization between electrodes, and separators, [ 22,23 ] as well as solid electrolyte [ 24,25 ] to manipulate Zn deposition/stripping behavior. Regulation of the Zn ion flux on the electrode surface and the uniform electric field distribution are essential to ensure homogeneous nucleation and dendrite‐free and durable Zn metal anodes.…”