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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Zinc-Sponge Battery Electrodes that Suppress Dendrites
Published on: September 29, 2020
Multi-component gradients in 3D host frameworks enabled stack-type zinc plating/stripping for highly durable aqueous
Jingjie Sun1, Tianyu Shen1,2, Mingyue Zhang3
1State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, MOE Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry, MOE Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Energy Catalysis and Intelligent Chemical Engineering, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Green Intelligent Manufacturing of New Energy Materials and Devices, Tianchang New Materials and Energy Technologies Research Center, Institute of Green Chemistry and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Developing dendrite-free zinc metal anodes with high durability poses a great challenge for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Herein, we propose an in situ constructed 3D restrained host frameworks with multi-component gradients that induces a controllable and rapid stack-type zinc plating/stripping behavior, enabling a unique "first-in/last-out" mode. Typically, hydrophobic amino-functionalized polysilane passivation layer and zincophilic Ag nanoparticles are successively self-assembled on carbon paper scaffold to form opposite concentration gradients, namely g'-Ag/g-PSiOx-NH2/CP. The g-PSiOx-NH2 inhibits side-reactions and promotes Zn2+ desolvation, meanwhile the g'-Ag guides preferential Zn2+ deposition. Consequently, the zinc-deposited g'-Ag/g-PSiOx-NH2/CP electrodes exhibit high Coulombic efficiency and long cyclability, surpassing 5000 hours at 10 mA cm-2/10 mAh cm-2 in symmetric cells. The as-assembled Zn||MnO2 full batteries deliver a specific capacity of 200.1 mAh g-1 with 82.2% retention after 800 cycles. Large-size pouch-type battery with zinc-deposited g'-Ag/g-PSiOx-NH2/CP anode and high-loading MnO2 cathode (∼15 mg cm-2) also exhibit good rate capability and cyclability. This scalable strategy offers a feasible solution to develop high-durability rechargeable metal-based batteries.
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