Strategically Constructing a Hydrophilic Interface toward Ultrastable Zinc Metal Anodes

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Aqueous zinc-ion storage devices offer safety and cost-effectiveness but suffer from zinc anode instability.
• Issues like uneven zinc deposition, slow kinetics, and corrosion limit cycling performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a protective buffer layer for zinc anodes to improve plating/stripping behavior and mitigate side reactions.
• To investigate the role of interfacial wettability in enhancing zinc anode performance for energy storage.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a sulfonate-functionalized boron nitride/graphene oxide (F-BG) buffer layer.
• Electrochemical measurements and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) for mechanistic studies.

Main Results:

• The F-BG layer promotes ordered Zn²⁺ migration and uniform flux, enhancing zinc plating/stripping reversibility.
• The protective layer exhibits strong zincphilicity and effectively inhibits dendrite growth.
• Improved interfacial wettability of the zinc anode leads to enhanced capacity and cycling stability.

Conclusions:

• The F-BG buffer layer provides a facile method for constructing stable zinc anodes.
• Understanding interfacial wettability is crucial for optimizing zinc-ion hybrid capacitors.
• This approach offers a promising strategy for advanced aqueous zinc-ion energy storage devices.