Development of Future Zinc-based Aqueous Batteries

Aqueous zinc metal batteries utilized in wearable and implanted devices require good biosecurity, long lifespan, and high flexibility. Here, the authors proposed a biocompatible hyaluronic acid-based gel electrolyte to improve the reversibility of zinc anodes and prolong the cycle life of batteries.

The production of large-format aqueous Zn batteries is hindered by electrolyte consumption, hydrogen gas evolution and Zn dendrites growth during cycling. Here, the authors propose a specific pouch cell design capable of releasing hydrogen gas and refilling the electrolyte components.

Functional hydrogel electrolytes show promising potential for enhancing the sustainability of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Here, the authors introduce a biomass-based hydrogel electrolyte that not only prevents side reactions on the zinc anode but also enables easy retrieval from the zinc batteries.

While Zinc anodes are thermodynamically unstable in aqueous solutions, the protons (H+) from the water favor the cathodes of Zinc batteries. Here, the authors address this contradiction by designing an asymmetric electrolyte composed of an inorganic solid-state electrolyte and a hydrogel electrolyte.

The zinc-copper (Zn-Cu) Daniell cell is regarded as primary battery due to the crossover of the copper species. Here, the authors report a rechargeable Zn-Cu battery with the combination of chloride shuttle chemistry in a ZnCl₂ aqueous/organic biphasic electrolyte, delivering a high energy density with stable cycling performance

Excess water in hydrogel-based zinc ion batteries causes side reactions, but reduced water content results in low conductivities. Here, authors develop a lean-water hydrogel based on molecular lubrication mechanism for fast ion transportation, extended stability, and reversible Zinc plating/stripping.

The negative electrode reversibility limits the lifespan of Zn metal batteries. Here, authors report an aqueous electrolyte with a reverse micelle structure that improves the reversibility of the Zn metal anode enabling the production of an ampere-hour-level pouch cell with five months lifetime.

The electrochemical performance of aqueous zinc ion batteries is limited by water activity. Here, the authors propose a hybrid electrolyte that incorporate strongly polar molecules to strengthen the water O–H bonds, thus reduce water activity and improve the electrochemical performance of the batteries.

Zinc-based batteries suffer from the dendrite growth and surface passivation of zinc derived from the unfavourable deposition and side reactions. Here, the authors modulate the coordination chemistry of hydrated zinc ions via electrolyte-design and gain insights into the reversible cycling of long-lived zinc electrode.

Zinc batteries have received intense attentions but suffer from inferior low-temperature performance. Here, the authors constructed a gradient phosphatized interphase in situ on zinc surface to accelerate zinc-ion desolvation and transport, greatly enhancing the cycling performance at subzero temperatures.

Conventional electrolytes of aqueous zinc-ion batteries suffer from serious side reactions. Here, the authors develop a densified electrolyte with perovskite additives to achieve reversible zinc plating/stripping with robust interface and improved performance of full cells at an extended voltage range.

Achieving high-performance aqueous Zn-metal batteries is a challenge. Here, authors report a eutectic electrolyte that concurrently enables selective Zn²⁺ intercalation at the cathode and highly reversible Zn metal plating/stripping, resulting in a benchmark high-areal capacity Zn anode-free cell.

The anti-freezing property of electrolyte is crucial for aqueous batteries under extreme conditions. Here authors explore the relationship between tetrahedral entropy and the freezing behavior of aqueous electrolyte, and further develop anti-freezing electrolyte for aqueous zinc ion batteries.

Zinc metal anodes suffer from electrolyte corrosion and dendrite growth issues during electrochemical cycling. Here, the authors propose a gradient design to imprint the zinc anode, which both prohibits side reactions and alleviates zinc deposition behaviour.

Research on electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia in acidic conditions has been less extensive than that conducted in alkaline conditions. Here, the authors report a hybrid of iron phthalocyanine and TiO₂ catalyst with improved efficiency toward acidic nitrate reduction and its application in Zn-nitrate batteries and high-voltage pollutes-based fuel cell.

The development of dendrite-free, Zn-free anodes is challenging. Here, the authors design a two-dimensional antimony/antimony-zinc alloy heterostructured interface to achieve dendrite-free Zn deposition with areal capacity of 200 mAh cm⁻², and energy density of around 270 Wh kg⁻¹ for anode-free zinc-bromine battery.

The electrochemical performance of metal electrodes is significantly influenced by their grain boundary stability. Here, the authors propose a zinc-titanium two-phase alloy via grain boundary engineering to inhibit intergranular corrosion and tailor deposition behavior for stable aqueous zinc batteries.

Surface reconstruction caused by adsorbate evolution mechanism leads to poor oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. Here, the authors introduce a hydroxy-silicon proton acceptor as OER catalyst which greatly accelerates the deprotonation process in OER and prolong the cycle life of zinc-ion batteries.

Uncontrolled dendrite growth and severe side reactions at high capacities and rates impede its practical application for zinc metal anodes. Here, the authors propose a composite zinc anode with 3D hierarchical graphene matrix as a multifunctional host to regulate zinc deposition for aqueous zinc batteries.

Enhancing energy density of batteries is a crucial focus within the field of energy storage. Here, the authors introduce a twelve-electron conversion iodine cathode (iodide/iodate) for high energy density zinc-iodine batteries, achieved through interhalogen chemistry in an acidic aqueous electrolyte.

Excess water in hydrogel-based zinc ion batteries causes side reactions, but reduced water content results in low conductivities. Here, authors develop a lean-water hydrogel based on molecular lubrication mechanism for fast ion transportation, extended stability, and reversible Zinc plating/stripping.

Cl-redox reactions cannot be fully exploited in batteries because of the Cl2 gas evolution. Here, reversible high-energy interhalogen reactions are demonstrated by using a iodine-based cathode in combination with a Zn anode and a Cl-containing aqueous electrolyte solution.

An interfacial assembly strategy was developed to construct single-atom binary Fe/Co-Nx sites with a high accessible site density of 7.6 × 10¹⁹ sites per gram which results in increased power densities in fuel cells and Zn/air batteries.

Well-dispersed nanoparticles are critical for catalysis but face challenges of easy agglomeration. Here the authors report synthesis of ultrasmall nanoparticles anchored on two-dimensional porous carbon via coordinated carbothermal shock and the application of resulted nanoparticles as catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis.

The practical use of zinc-organic batteries has been hindered by their low energy density and rapid capacity decay. Here, the authors introduce a super electron-delocalized hydrogen-bonded organic framework by tuning electron delocalization as a cathode material for high-performance zinc-organic batteries.