Interfacial Engineering Boosts Highly Reversible Zinc Metal for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2023-04, Vol.15 (13), p.16584-16592
• Main Authors: Yao, Danwen, Yu, Dongxu, Yao, Shiyu, Lu, Ziheng, Li, Guoxiao, Xu, Huailiang, Du, Fei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c20075

Zinc metal is emerging as the promising anode for aqueous Zn-ion batteries. However, corrosion and undesirable Zn dendrite growth limit their practical application in the large-scale energy storage area. Herein, a mountain–valley micro/nanostructure is successfully fabricated on the surface of the Zn anode via a femtosecond-laser filament texturing (FsLFT) technique. Beneficial from the large surface area and spontaneously generated ZnO coating layer, the FsLFT-Zn electrode demonstrates a slow corrosion rate with a current density of 0.62 mA cm–2 and a stable cycle life over 3000 h under 1 mA cm–2, superior to the original Zn anode. Simulation of the electric fields reveals that the enlarged surface area is responsible for the outstanding performance of the FsLFT-Zn electrode. This study not only proposes a novel strategy to suppress dendrite growth toward highly stable AZIBs but also opens a new avenue to solve similar issues in other metal batteries.