Challenges and design strategies for high performance aqueous zinc ion batteries

Highly reversible zinc metal anodes enabled by a three-dimensional silver host for aqueous batteries

“…The dynamic yet unstable interface might cause uncontrollable growth of Zn dendrites as well as low coulombic efficiency (CE). [11][12][13] Meanwhile, corrosion, hydrogen evolution, and other side reactions caused by the aqueous electrolyte at the interface decrease the reversibility of Zn metal electrodes even further. 14,15 Many effective solutions, such as managing the nucleation and/or crystallographic orientation, [15][16][17][18][19] developing three-dimensional (3D) structures, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] and optimizing the electrolyte, [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] have recently been proposed to improve Zn metal's reversibility in aqueous electrolytes, particularly in neutral or mildly acidic electrolytes.…”

Electropolymerization reaction-driven 2,6-naphthalenediamine monomers to a multilayered sheet structure for ultralong cycling aqueous zinc-ion batteries

“…[7][8][9] Inorganic cathode materials still suffer from many limitations including dendrite growth, sluggish reaction kinetics and cycling stability. [10][11][12][13] For example, Mn-based oxides incur poor rate performance and rapid capacity fading resulting from terrible electrical conductivity and Mn 2+ dissolution in electrolytes. 14,15 V-based oxides are limited by the low charge/discharge voltage plateau and toxicity as well as high cost even though they usually exhibit better cycling performance than Mn-based oxides.…”

Two‐Dimensional Cathode Materials for Aqueous Rechargeable Zinc‐Ion Batteries†

“…At present, the energy density of ZIBs can reach 85 Wh·kg –1 , [ 10 ] which is still far below those of the widely used LIBs (180―230 Wh·kg –1 ). [ 11 ] However, ZIBs have the advantages of low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness, which can make up for the shortcomings.…”

“…Notably, rechargeable batteries with aqueous electrolytes are potential candidates to overcome these issues. Among many aqueous batteries, aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (ZIBs) have triggered intense interest for the prominent advantages: 1) Zinc metal is known to be of low cost and high reserves (≈300 times higher than those of lithium); 2) Zinc has a low redox potential of −0.763 V versus standard hydrogen electrode, and a high energy density of 820 mAh·g –1 ; [ 10‐11 ] 3) ZIBs can use neutral aqueous electrolytes instead of flammable organic electrolytes, which reduce the cost of energy storage and enhance the safety against the ignition of ZIBs in case of electrolyte leakage; 4) The ionic conductivity of aqueous electrolyte (1 S·cm –1 ) is several orders of magnitude higher than that of organic electrolyte (1 × 10 –2 ―1 × 10 –3 S·cm –1 ), which can reduce battery resistance and ensure the smooth transfer of charges. [ 12 ] Therefore, ZIBs are considered as advanced secondary battery systems that can be applied in large‐scale energy storage or wearable electronics.…”