Issue 4, 2024

Zincophilic Sn sites induced the local ion enrichment for compact and homogenous growth of Zn biscuits in long-life Zn metal batteries

Abstract

The inevitable formation of zinc (Zn) dendrites and side reactions impede the practical applications of long-life and stable Zn metal batteries (ZMBs). Herein, a self-supporting and zincophilic skeleton, reduced copper foam containing Sn sites (R-CF@Sn), is constructed to induce dense and homogenous Zn growth for enhancing the performance of Zn metal anode and ZMBs. A facile and effective decoration of functional Sn coating not only exhibited a high Zn ion adsorption energy to promote the uniform distribution and local enrichment, but also guided the subsequent stable Zn nucleation and dense biscuit-like Zn metal development, which was substantiated by microscopy images. Due to the positive construction of zincophilic Sn layer and rough skeleton surface, the electrolyte wettability of R-CF@Sn was greatly improved compared to that of bare copper substrate. When applied for evaluating the coulombic efficiency (CE) performance, the R-CF@Sn skeleton showed a low nucleation overpotential of 6.6 mV and maintained a high average CE value of 98% for 400 cycles at 5 mA cm−2. Moreover, a symmetric cell with R-CF@Sn plating with Zn metal of 3 mA h cm−2 could deliver prolonged lifespans of 1600 h (1 mA cm−2) and 700 h (5 mA cm−2) at a plating/stripping capacity of 1 mA h cm−2. The superior specific capacity delivery of the full cell with an MnO2 cathode further indicates the positive effect of stabilizing the Zn metal anode possessed by the R-CF@Sn skeleton.

Graphical abstract: Zincophilic Sn sites induced the local ion enrichment for compact and homogenous growth of Zn biscuits in long-life Zn metal batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Oct 2023
Accepted
13 Dec 2023
First published
03 Jan 2024

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 2283-2293

Zincophilic Sn sites induced the local ion enrichment for compact and homogenous growth of Zn biscuits in long-life Zn metal batteries

T. Liu, Y. Xu, H. Fang, L. Chen, J. Ying, M. Guo, Y. Wang, Q. Shen, X. Wang, Y. Wang and Z. Yu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 2283 DOI: 10.1039/D3TA06613D

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