Cationic Adsorption-Induced Microlevelling Effect: A Pathway to Dendrite-Free Zinc Anodes
Long Jiang, Yiqing Ding, Le Li, Yan Tang, Peng Zhou, Bingan Lu, Siyu Tian, Jiang Zhou
Abstract
Abstract Dendrite growth represents one of the most significant challenges that impede the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Herein, Gd 3+ ions are introduced into conventional electrolytes as a microlevelling agent to achieve dendrite-free zinc electrodeposition. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that these Gd 3+ ions are preferentially adsorbed onto the zinc surface, which enables dendrite-free zinc anodes by activating the microlevelling effect during electrodeposition. In addition, the Gd 3+ additives effectively inhibit side reactions and facilitate the desolvation of [Zn(H 2 O) 6 ] 2+ , leading to highly reversible zinc plating/stripping. Due to these improvements, the zinc anode demonstrates a significantly prolonged cycle life of 2100 h and achieves an exceptional average Coulombic efficiency of 99.72% over 1400 cycles. More importantly, the Zn//NH 4 V 4 O 10 full cell shows a high capacity retention rate of 85.6% after 1000 cycles. This work not only broadens the application of metallic cations in battery electrolytes but also provides fundamental insights into their working mechanisms.