Work

On Repeatability of Electrochemical Zinc Nucleation and Growth From Aqueous Zinc Sulfate Electrolytes

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Electrodeposition of zinc is critical to enabling rechargeable zinc batteries. Historically, zinc batteries have employed zinc foil or powder zinc anodes, and the anode research has focused on improving the reversibility of zinc electrodeposition through a combination of material modifications and electrical controls. With breakthroughs in anode-free lithium batteries, an appealing possibility is to leverage the anode-free configuration. The very first step in such an operation is nucleation and growth of zinc on a substrate. Hence, to conclusively study how this early stage electrodeposition is influenced by factors such as electrolyte composition, substrate choice, and operating conditions, it is essential to obtain repeatable electrochemical signatures corresponding to nucleation and growth. Surprisingly, our experiments electrodepositing zinc on stainless steel find appreciable cell-to-cell variability across identical testing conditions. While we still do not conclusively understand the underlying mechanism(s) causing such variability, the present study quantifies the contributions to variability resulting from surface cleaning, formation step, and zinc counter electrode.

Source: Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage

DOI: 10.1115/1.4070998

Authors: Sophia Chan, Owen Schreiber, Trevor Sando, Aashutosh Mistry

Institutions: Case Western Reserve University, Colorado School of Mines

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: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Colorado School of Mines