Zinc Anode for Mild Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries: Challenges, Strategies, and Perspectives

Abstract

The rapid advance of mild aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) is driving the development of the energy storage system market. But the thorny issues of Zn anodes, mainly including dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and corrosion, severely reduce the performance of ZIBs. To commercialize ZIBs, researchers must overcome formidable challenges. Research about mild aqueous ZIBs is still developing. Various technical and scientific obstacles to designing Zn anodes with high stripping efficiency and long cycling life have not been resolved. Moreover, the performance of Zn anodes is a complex scientific issue determined by various parameters, most of which are often ignored, failing to achieve the maximum performance of the cell. This review proposes a comprehensive overview of existing Zn anode issues and the corresponding strategies, frontiers, and development trends to deeply comprehend the essence and inner connection of degradation mechanism and performance. First, the formation mechanism of dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, corrosion, and their influence on the anode are analyzed. Furthermore, various strategies for constructing stable Zn anodes are summarized and discussed in detail from multiple perspectives. These strategies are mainly divided into interface modification, structural anode, alloying anode, intercalation anode, liquid electrolyte, non-liquid electrolyte, separator design, and other strategies. Finally, research directions and prospects are put forward for Zn anodes. This contribution highlights the latest developments and provides new insights into the advanced Zn anode for future research.

Stable Zinc Anodes Enabled by a Zincophilic Polyanionic Hydrogel Layer

“…[9,10] To tackle the above issues, various Zn anode protection strategies have been proposed by modifying the Zn surface and adjusting the composition of the electrolyte. [11,12] More specifically, Zn surface modification can be considered as the construction of a viable protective layer or solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) to prevent direct contact of Zn with H 2 O and block the dendrites growth. Such protective layers include inorganic metal compounds (e.g., CaCO 3 , [13] ZrO 2 , [14] TiO 2 , [15] ZnF 2 , [16] ZnO, [17] ZnS, [18] ZnSe, [19] CeO 2 , [20] and ZnMoO 4 [21] ), organic polymers (e.g., polyamide, [22] poly(vinyl butyral), [23] poly(ethylene oxide) [24] ), and carbon materials (e.g., hollow carbon spheres, [25] graphene, [26] and active carbon [27] ).…”

Surface-Alloyed Nanoporous Zinc as Reversible and Stable Anodes for High-Performance Aqueous Zinc-Ion Battery

“…This dilemma has raised urgent demands for developing alternative battery technologies [ 3 – 6 ], especially safe and low-cost aqueous rechargeable batteries based on non-lithium charge carries [ 7 – 10 ]. Among various attractive aqueous battery candidates [ 11 – 14 ], aqueous rechargeable zinc-metal batteries (AR-ZMBs) are of considerable interest because multivalent zinc metal (Zn) features high volumetric and gravimetric capacities (5854 mAh cm ‒3 and 820 mAh g ‒1 ), low Zn/Zn 2+ redox potential (‒0.76 V versus standard hydrogen electrode, SHE), high Earth abundance and low cost [ 4 , 9 , 15 – 18 ]. Despite some high-performance cathode materials, such as manganese oxides [ 19 – 23 ], vanadium oxides [ 24 – 28 ] and quinone analogs [ 29 , 30 ], have been explored to effectively accommodate Zn 2+ via intercalation or conversion reactions, most AR-ZMBs still exhibit unsatisfactory rechargeability, hindering their practical implementation as power sources for transportation or reliable solutions for grid integration of renewable energy [ 4 ].…”

A Multifunctional Anti-Proton Electrolyte for High-Rate and Super-Stable Aqueous Zn-Vanadium Oxide Battery

“…Generally, it should be a system problem that causes the electrochemical failure of aqueous zinc-vanadium oxide battery, as shown in Scheme 1, the adverse factors can be mainly divided into the following two concerns. For Zn metal anode side, on one hand, the uneven deposition would lead to the rapid growth of Zn dendrite and produce the risk of puncturing the glass fiber (GF) separator [17,18]. Besides that, the side reactions especially for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) would lead to a sharp increment of internal pressure in battery [19][20][21].…”