Grain Boundary Filling Empowers (002)-Textured Zn Metal Anodes with Superior Stability

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Materials Science
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Aqueous zinc batteries offer safe and cost-effective grid-level energy storage.
• Zinc anode instability, including dendrite growth and side reactions, limits their performance.
• While (002)-oriented zinc anodes enhance stability, grain boundaries remain vulnerable to corrosion and dendrites.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address intergranular corrosion and dendrite growth in (002)-textured zinc anodes.
• To improve the electrochemical performance and stability of aqueous zinc batteries.
• To develop a grain boundary wetting strategy for zinc anode protection.

Main Methods:

• Investigated various grain boundary fillers and annealing conditions.
• Selected indium (In) as the optimal filler material.
• Employed a one-step annealing process to create indium-infiltrated (002)-textured zinc (IM(002) Zn).

Main Results:

• The one-step annealing process produced single (002)-textured zinc with indium filling grain boundaries.
• IM(002) Zn effectively suppressed Zn anode corrosion and dendrite formation.
• Batteries utilizing the IM(002) Zn anode demonstrated significantly enhanced stability.

Conclusions:

• Grain boundary infiltration with indium is a viable strategy to stabilize (002)-textured zinc anodes.
• This approach mitigates key degradation mechanisms, paving the way for high-energy aqueous zinc batteries.
• The findings provide novel insights into protecting zinc anodes for advanced energy storage applications.