Unveiling The Mechanism of The Dendrite Nucleation and Growth in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries

Unveiling The Mechanism of The Dendrite Nucleation and Growth in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries

Advanced Energy Materials

10.1002/aenm.202303737

https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202303737

Mingchang Zhang, Weidong Xu, Xuefei Han, Huiqing Fan, Tao CHEN, YaXiong Yang, Yong Gao, Chao Zheng, Yi Yang, Ting Xiong, Yong‐Wei Zhang, Wee Siang Vincent Lee, Weijia Wang, Hongge Pan, Zhi Gen Yu, Junmin Xue

General Materials Science

31 December 2023

M. Zhang, W. Xu, X. Han, H. Fan, T. Chen, Y. Yang, Y. Gao, C. Zheng, Y. Yang, T. Xiong, Y.-W. Zhang, W. S. V. Lee, W. Wang, H. Pan, Z. G. Yu, J. Xue, Unveiling The Mechanism of The Dendrite Nucleation and Growth in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries. Adv. Energy Mater. 2024, 14, 2303737. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202303737

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) exhibit great potential for next‐generation energy storage devices. However, significant challenges exist, including the uncontrollable formation of Zn dendrite and side reactions during zinc stripping and plating. The mechanism of Zn dendrite nucleation has yet to be fully understood. In this work, the first principles simulations are used to investigate the Zn dendrite formation process. The unintentionally adsorbed O2− and OH− ions are the inducing factors for Zn dendrite nucleation and growth on the Zn (0001) plane due to significantly increased Zn diffusion barriers. A top‐down method is demonstrated to suppress the dendrite using delaminated V2CTx to capture O2− and OH− ions thanks to reduced Zn diffusion barriers. The experimental results revealed significantly suppressed Zn dendrite nucleation and growth, resulting in a layer‐by‐layer deposit/stripping of Zn. Based on the electrochemical evaluations, the V2CTx‐coated Zn composite delivers a high coulombic efficiency of 99.3% at 1.0 mAh cm−2. Furthermore, the full cell achieves excellent cyclic performance of 93.6% capacity retention after 2000 cycles at 1 A g−1. This strategy has broad scalability and can be widely applied in designing metallic anodes for rechargeable batteries.

Publisher Copyright

There was no specific funding for the research done

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: M. Zhang, W. Xu, X. Han, H. Fan, T. Chen, Y. Yang, Y. Gao, C. Zheng, Y. Yang, T. Xiong, Y.-W. Zhang, W. S. V. Lee, W. Wang, H. Pan, Z. G. Yu, J. Xue, Unveiling The Mechanism of The Dendrite Nucleation and Growth in Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries. Adv. Energy Mater. 2024, 14, 2303737. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202303737, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202303737. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/22552

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