Zincophilic Sites-Enriched Carbonized ZIF-8/MXene Heterostructure Enables Rapid Reaction Kinetics and Interface...

Though aqueous zinc ion batteries have driven increased attention due to various merits, the challenges of Zn anodes such as Zn dendrites and side reactions still hamper their practical applications. Herein, zincophilic conductive carbonized ZIF-8 and MXene heterostructures (cZIF@MXene) acting as multifunctional layers on Zn anodes (cZIF@MXene-Zn) are developed. In the cZIF@MXene, not only abundant nitrogen-containing functional groups exhibit strong interaction with Zn ions but also the conductive matrix with a large surface area provides a reaction interface, thereby accelerating the reaction kinetics while guiding uniform Zn deposition. Meanwhile, cZIF@MXene exhibits numerous ion diffusion paths, facilitating uniform ion distribution. Moreover, 2D cZIF@MXene heterostructures maintain the stability of the interfacial structure. As a consequence, cZIF@MXene-Zn shows stability, such as a long cycle life of over 3000 cycles at 10 mA cm^-2 and 1 mAh cm^-2, and over 1000 cycles at 5 mA cm^-2 and 1 mAh cm^-2.