Dendrite-Free Zn Anode Endowed by Facile Al-Complex Coating for Long-Cycled Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries
Wangsheng Yuan, Ye Yuan, Junwei Wu, Chaolin You, Yishuang He, Xinhai Yuan, Qinghong Huang, Lili Liu, Lijun Fu, Yuping Wu
Abstract
Side reactions and dendrite growth on the zinc metal anode surface seriously damage the shelf life and calendar life of Zn-based batteries. Here, an Al-complexed artificial interfacial layer is constructed on the Zn surface (denoted as Al-complex@Zn) by a low-cost, facile, and scalable chemical method. The Al-complex interfacial layer improves the wettability of the electrolyte. Meanwhile, the Al-complex layer not only inhibits the side reaction by a physical barrier on the Zn surface but also regulates the zinc-ion flux to realize the uniform deposition of Zn 2+ . The Zn//Zn symmetric cell with an Al-complex layer has realized an ultralong cycle life of 2400 h and an extremely low polarization voltage of 20 mV (1 mA cm –2, 0.5 mAh cm –2 ), surpassing those reported in most literature. Furthermore, when an Al-complex@Zn//NaV 3 O 8 ·1.5H 2 O (NVO) full cell is assembled, a high capacity retention of 92.5% is achieved over 1000 cycles at a current density of 4 A g –1 . This work provides a facile and low-cost strategy on the modification of zinc anode to realize long-cycled aqueous Zn-ion batteries.