Lightweight Zn‐Philic 3D‐Cu Scaffold for Customizable Zinc Ion Batteries
Shaohong Shi, Dongcheng Zhou, Yuheng Jiang, Fangchao Cheng, Jianping Sun, Quanquan Guo, Yiteng Luo, Yungui Chen, Wei Liu
Abstract
Abstract Porous metal current collectors (CCs) serve as key component for aqueous Zn‐ion batteries (AZIBs). Herein, a lightweight 3D‐Cu architecture with customizable geometries is developed to enable reversible Zn‐metal cycling. The 3D‐Cu is prepared by 3D‐printing a crosslink‐able polymer scaffold followed by Cu‐metallization. The printed architecture is optimized to endow 3D‐Cu with electric conductivity that is on‐par with commercial Cu foam, but can reduce ≈80% of the weight and consumption of Cu. A Zn‐philic graphene (Gr) coating is adopted to promote uniform and (002)‐preferred Zn growth onto the 3D‐Cu surface, creating a 3DP‐Cu@Gr architecture that induces conformal Zn‐deposition and greatly suppressed H 2 ‐evolution reaction. The 3DP‐Cu@Gr||Zn shows stable 700 cycles at 4 mA cm −2 and 2 mAh cm −2 , with coulombic efficiency >99.6%. Zn‐loaded 3D‐electrodes enable symmetrical cells with stable 300 h cycling at 10 mA cm −2 , delivering a specific accumulated capacity of 86.7 Ah g −1 . This represents an unprecedented combination of cycle stability, high charge rate, and electrode lightweight. The all‐printed pantacle‐shape full pouch cells (3.6 mAh) exhibit 91.4% capacity retention after 200 cycles at 1 C. Possessing unusual design freedom, this strategy demonstrates a pathway for developing lightweight Cu CCs and customizable high‐energy AZIBs.