Anisotropic hydrogel electrolyte with in-situ formed inorganic ionic conductive interface toward highly stable zinc...

While aqueous zinc-ion batteries have emerged as promising candidates for large-scale energy storage due to their inherent safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental friendliness, their application potential is severely hindered by the instability of zinc metal anodes. To address this issue, an anisotropic hydrogel electrolyte incorporating phosphate anions that can spontaneously react with zinc metal to form an inorganic protective layer is developed in this study. The anisotropic structure of this hydrogel electrolyte can facilitate rapid ionic transport while reducing the likelihood of dendrite formation. As for the in-situ formed interfacial layer, it owns large ionic conductivity, excellent zincophilicity, and exceptional chemical stability, hence not only promoting Zn²⁺ ion transport, desolvation, and nucleation processes, but also effectively shielding Zn electrode from direct exposure to water molecules. The experimental results confirm this hydrogel electrolyte can effectively inhibit Zn dendrites and parasitic reactions. Thanks to that, the Zn//Zn cell demonstrates long lifespan of over 1500 h under 2 mA cm^-2 and 2 mAh cm^-2, and the Zn//MnO₂ battery achieves a large capacity retention of 84.8 % after 1000 cycles. These performance metrics represent a significant advancement over the use of conventional separators. This work establishes a promising strategy for the design of hydrogel electrolytes and the interface engineering of zinc-based batteries.