Chen Wang, Bo Chen, Tan Wang, Gabriel Vinicius De Oliveira Silva, Zhi Xu, Guo-Xing Miao, Yunhui Huang and Jing Fu
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Due to the highly anisotropic nature of Zn crystalline structures, dendrite formation is a critical challenge for the direct utilization of Zn as a rechargeable battery electrode. This limits the maximum power output and cyclability of batteries, making them unsuitable for demanding applications despite their environmental and economic advantages. Here, we report a self-sustainable surface regulation where both Zn plating and stripping processes on a Bi substrate are modulated by its solid-state surfactant effect. The stable nucleation of Zn covered by Bi surfactants largely reduces the nucleation overpotential and limits the lateral diffusion of newly deposited Zn adatoms, effectively preventing the wild dendrite growth normally present in an unregulated system. In addition, Bi can stay afloat on the Zn plating surface over hundreds of microns, and the resultant plating is smooth with densely packed Zn deposits, making it possible to reach extreme plating capacities (e.g. 115 mA h cm−2 demonstrated) with minimal dendrite formation in a practical coin cell configuration. The subsequent clean stripping with negligible dead Zn ensures a near-ideal Coulombic efficiency of Zn|Bi half cells over 3000 cycles at an areal capacity of 7 mA h cm−2. An acidic Zn-free full cell using a Bi anode exhibits over 700 stable cycles at 4 mA h cm−2 and a high Coulombic efficiency of ∼94.6%. Our results demonstrate that the application of Bi solid-state surfactants can effectively resolve the critical dendrite problem and build high-efficiency Zn-free cell systems.
期刊介绍:
Energy & Environmental Science, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, publishes original research and review articles covering interdisciplinary topics in the (bio)chemical and (bio)physical sciences, as well as chemical engineering disciplines. Published monthly by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a not-for-profit publisher, Energy & Environmental Science is recognized as a leading journal. It boasts an impressive impact factor of 8.500 as of 2009, ranking 8th among 140 journals in the category "Chemistry, Multidisciplinary," second among 71 journals in "Energy & Fuels," second among 128 journals in "Engineering, Chemical," and first among 181 scientific journals in "Environmental Sciences."
Energy & Environmental Science publishes various types of articles, including Research Papers (original scientific work), Review Articles, Perspectives, and Minireviews (feature review-type articles of broad interest), Communications (original scientific work of an urgent nature), Opinions (personal, often speculative viewpoints or hypotheses on current topics), and Analysis Articles (in-depth examination of energy-related issues).