Aluminum corrosion–passivation regulation prolongs aqueous batteries life
Binghang Liu, Tianshi Lv, Anxing Zhou, Xiangzhen Zhu, Zejing Lin, Ting Lin, Liumin Suo
Abstract
Abstract Aluminum current collectors are widely used in nonaqueous batteries owing to their cost-effectiveness, lightweightness, and ease of fabrication. However, they are excluded from aqueous batteries due to their severe corrosion in aqueous solutions. Here, we propose hydrolyzation-type anodic additives to form a robust passivation layer to suppress corrosion. These additives dramatically lower the corrosion current density of aluminum by nearly three orders of magnitude to ~10 −6 A cm −2 . In addition, realizing that electrochemical corrosion accompanies anode prelithiation, we propose a prototype of self-prolonging aqueous Li-ion batteries (Al ||LiMn 2 O 4 ||TiO 2 ), whose capacity retention rises from 49.5% to 70.1% after 200 cycles. A sacrificial aluminum electrode where electrochemical corrosion is utilized is introduced as an electron supplement to prolong the cycling life of aqueous batteries. Our work addresses the short-life issue of aqueous batteries resulting from the corrosion of the current collector and lithium loss from side reactions.