Work

Stabilizing Zinc Anodes with Water-Soluble Polymers as an Electrolyte Additive

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Water-induced corrosion and zinc dendrite formation seriously disrupt the Zn plating/stripping process at the anode/electrolyte interface, which results in the instability of the Zn metal anode in aqueous zinc-ion batteries. To address the issues of the zinc metal anode, three water-soluble polymers with different hydrophilic groups—polyacrylic acid (PAA), polyacrylamide (PAM), and polyethylene glycol (PEG)—were designed as electrolyte additives in ZnSO4 electrolytes. Among them, the PAA-based system exhibited an optimal electrochemical performance, achieving a stable cycling for more than 360 h at a current density of 5 mA cm−2 with an areal capacity of 2 mA h cm−2. This improvement could be attributed to its carboxyl groups, which effectively suppresses zinc dendrite growth, electrode corrosion, and side reactions, thereby enhancing the cycling performance of zinc-ion batteries. This work provides a reference for the optimization of zinc anodes in aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Source: Materials

DOI: 10.3390/ma18215040

Authors: Xueyan Li, Xiaojiang Chen, Senlong Zhang, Jinrong Wang, Zhuo Chen, Yuexian Song

Institutions: Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, North University of China, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Advanced battery technologies research

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137