Dendrite Suppression Membranes for Rechargeable Zinc Batteries

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2018-11, Vol.10 (45), p.38928-38935
• Main Authors: Lee, Byoung-Sun, Cui, Shuang, Xing, Xing, Liu, Haodong, Yue, Xiujun, Petrova, Victoria, Lim, Hee-Dae, Chen, Renkun, Liu, Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Materials Science; Science & Technology - Other Topics
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b14022

Aqueous batteries with zinc metal anodes are promising alternatives to Li-ion batteries for grid storage because of their abundance and benefits in cost, safety, and nontoxicity. However, short cyclability due to zinc dendrite growth remains a major obstacle. Here, we report a cross-linked polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based cation exchange membrane that is low cost and mechanically robust. Li2S3 reacts with PAN, simultaneously leading to cross-linking and formation of sulfur-containing functional groups. Hydrolysis of the membrane results in the formation of a membrane that achieves preferred cation transport and homogeneous ionic flux distribution. The separator is thin (30 μm-thick), almost 9 times stronger than hydrated Nafion, and made of low-cost materials. The membrane separator enables exceptionally long cyclability (>350 cycles) of Zn/Zn symmetric cells with low polarization and effective dendrite suppression. Our work demonstrates that the design of new separators is a fruitful pathway to enhancing the cyclability of aqueous batteries.