A Nature-Inspired Separator with Water-Confined and Kinetics-Boosted Effects for Sustainable and High-Utilization Zn...

Uncontrollable dendrite growth and sluggish ion-transport kinetics are considered as the main obstacles for the further development of high-performance aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs). Here, a nature-inspired separator (ZnHAP/BC) is developed to tackle these issues via the hybridization of the biomass-derived bacterial cellulose (BC) network and nano-hydroxyapatite particles (HAP). The as-prepared ZnHAP/BC separator not only regulates the desolvation process of the hydrated Zn²⁺ ions (Zn(H₂ O)₆ ²⁺ ) by suppressing the water reactivity through the surface functional groups, alleviating the water-induced side-reactions, but also boosts the ion-transport kinetics and homogenize the Zn²⁺ flux, resulting in a fast and uniform Zn deposition. Remarkably, the Zn|Zn symmetric cell with ZnHAP/BC separator harvests a long-term stability over 1600 h at 1 mA cm^-2 , 1 mAh cm^-2 and endures stable cycling over 1025 and 611 h even at a high depth of discharge (DOD) of 50% and 80%, respectively. The Zn|V₂ O₅ full cell with a low negative/positive (N/P) capacity ratio of 2.7 achieves a superior capacity retention of 82% after 2500 cycles at 10 A g^-1 . Furthermore, the Zn/HAP separator can be totally degraded within 2 weeks. This work develops a novel nature-derived separator and provides insights in constructing functional separators toward sustainable and advanced AZIBs.