Poloxamer Pre-solvation Sheath Ion Encapsulation Strategy for Zinc Anode–Electrolyte Interfaces
Kai Yang, Hao Fu, Yixue Duan, Zhihao Ma, Dong Wang, Bolong Li, Ho Seok Park, Derek Ho
Abstract
Aqueous metal-ion batteries are considered next-generation energy storage devices with improved safety. However, they suffer from sluggish kinetics and side reactions. This work presents a zinc-ion encapsulation strategy based on the poloxamer pre-solvation sheath for the realization of efficient zinc anode–electrolyte interfaces. The poloxamers can reversibly self-assemble into a pre-solvation sheath by electron-donating effect and effectively shield the ions from the surrounding water. This also lowers the activation energy of desolvation, endowing promoted transference and reaction kinetics. Accordingly, the Zn||Zn cell with the poloxamer electrolyte (Polo-ZnSO 4 ) achieved over 2000 h cycles at 5 mA cm –2 and even over 500 h cycles at 10 mA cm –2 . The Zn||MnO 2 battery delivers a high and stable capacity of 240.9 mAh g –1 after 1000 cycles at 1 A g –1 . This work paves the way for use of encapsulation chemistry for advanced aqueous metal batteries with high Coulombic efficiency and long lifetime.