A Semi‐Liquid Electrode toward Stable Zn Powder Anode

Abstract

Zn powder anode possesses great versatility compared to the Zn foil counterpart, but the rough surface with a high surface area aggravates the corrosion and dendrite growth. Herein, a dendrite‐free and anti‐corrosive semi‐liquid Zn anode (SLA) is successfully fabricated based on Zn powder and a thickening agent. Benefiting from the rheological property, the unique anode effectively releases the stress induced by Zn plating, especially under high‐current densities. Meanwhile, the dual‐conductive medium, i.e., ionic and electronic, homogenizes the ion flux and allows the stripping/plating to occur within the entire anode. In a symmetric cell, the SLA anode exhibits stable electrochemical behavior with a prolonged lifespan at the current density of 5 mA cm−2/10 mA cm−2 under the capacity of 5 mAh cm−2/10 mAh cm−2. Improved durability of more than 5000 cycles is endowed when assembling an SLA anode with a vanadium‐based cathode. This study provides an electrode rheology‐based approach to overcome the stability challenge of powder anode for scale‐up manufacturing.

Stable Zn Metal Anodes Enabled by Restricted Self‐Diffusion Via Succinimide Surfactant

“…Figure 3d compares the cyclic performance in ZnSO 4 /SI with those obtained in other reported electrolyte additives. [7,20,31,32,37,38,[40][41][42][43]45,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58] The cumulative plated capacity (CPC) is regarded as a practical indicator of cell lifetime according to two measuring parameters: the current density and areal capacity during each cycle. It is notable that Zn symmetric cells in ZnSO 4 /SI electrolyte achieve an excellent CPC of 6800 mAh cm −2 at the current density of 20 mA cm −2 and areal capacity of 10 mAh cm −2 , which exceeds the CPC values of recently reported results modified by additives (generally lower than 5000 mAh cm −2 at current densities≤ 10 mA cm −2 and areal capacities≤ 10 mAh cm −2 ).…”

“…[12] As a result, they combine to instigate the increase of local pH and passivation of the Zn surface by generating loose and uneven by-products Zn 4 (SO 4 )(OH) 6 •xH 2 O (ZSH), leading to the inferior CE and cycling stability. [13,14] In order to directly employ Zn foils as metallic anodes in AZ-IBs, various approaches have been developed as follows: constructing protective surface coatings to optimize the growth of electrodeposition and appease dendrite growth as well as Zn corrosion, [7,[15][16][17][18][19] fabricating semi-liquid Zn electrode to release stress and induce dendrite-free Zn deposition, [20][21][22] introducing functional additives to facilitate homogeneous Zn 2+ deposition and control the growth rate of different crystal planes, and designing external factors like imposing magnetic field or adopting a pulsed charging protocol to augment the mass transport and facilitate planar Zn deposition. [23][24][25][26] These strategies have successfully guided Zn foils over hundreds or even thousands of cycles under shallow cycling conditions (commonly lower than 5 mAh cm −2 ).…”

Anti‐Fatigue Hydrogel Electrolyte for All‐Flexible Zn‐Ion Batteries

“…Afterward, the Zn anode is prepared through electrodeposition of Zn nanosheets on the Ag@SBS with a mass loading of 2–3 mg cm −2 (Figure 6d). Turning to the cathode, the V 2 O 5 microsphere co‐inserted by the Cu 2+ and H 2 O molecules (denoted as Cu x V 2 O 5 ·nH 2 O) is prepared by the conventional hydrothermal method, [ 38 ] which is cast on the Ag@SBS (Figure 6e). The resulting cathode and anode are uniform and flexible, with low resistances of 21 and 1.5 Ohm cm −1 , respectively (Figure S22, Supporting Information).…”

Research progress on modified Zn substrates in stabilizing zinc anodes

“…Liu et al successfully prepared a dendrite free and corrosion resistant semi-liquid zinc anode (SLA) using zinc powder and a thickening agent as the matrix. 127 The unique anode, thanks to its rheological properties, effectively releases the stresses generated by galvanization, especially at high current densities. At the same time, the presence of both electrons and ions in a dual conducting medium facilitates the homogenization of the ion flux, thus allowing stripping/plating to occur across the anode (Fig.…”