A New Metalgel Current Collector for Simultaneous Rapid and Stable Zinc Electrochemistry

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Achieving high-rate capability and long-term stability in zinc anodes is difficult due to conflicting requirements for interfacial area and contact.
• Previous zinc anode designs suffered from limited lifetimes and high overpotentials due to interfacial deposition and parasitic reactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel current collector that resolves the trade-off between kinetics and stability in zinc anodes.
• To enable high-rate capability and long-term cycling stability in zinc-based batteries.

Main Methods:

• Designed a metal-anode current collector using a biphasic gallium-indium-zinc continuum within a 3D polymer network.
• Utilized a reversible dissolution-precipitation alloying process for inward zinc deposition and stripping.

Main Results:

• The metalgel current collector facilitated inward zinc deposition, minimizing electrolyte contact and suppressing dendrites.
• Achieved over 4300 hours of stable cycling at 80% zinc utilization and a low overpotential of 156.6 mV at 100 mA·cm^-2.
• Demonstrated decoupling of interfacial kinetics from interfacial instabilities.

Conclusions:

• The developed metalgel current collector presents a new paradigm for high-performance metal batteries.
• This approach effectively addresses the limitations of traditional zinc anodes, paving the way for advanced energy storage solutions.