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Title: Highly reversible Zn anode with a practical areal capacity enabled by a sustainable electrolyte and superacid interfacial chemistry

Journal Article · · Joule
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  4. Univ. of Waterloo, ON (Canada)
  5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Aqueous zinc-metal batteries are plagued by poor Zn reversibility owing to zinc dendrite and layered double hydroxide (LDH) formation. Here, we introduce a novel additive—N,N-dimethylformamidium trifluoromethanesulfonate (DOTf)—in a low-cost aqueous electrolyte that can very effectively address these issues. The initial water-assisted dissociation of DOTf into triflic superacid creates a robust nanostructured solid-electrolyte interface (SEI)—revealed by operando spectroscopy and cryomicroscopy—which excludes water and enables dense Zn deposition. We demonstrate excellent Zn plating/stripping in a Zn||Cu asymmetric cell for more than 3,500 cycles. Furthermore, near 100% CE is realized at a combined high current density of 4 mA cm-2 and an areal capacity of 4 mAh cm-2 over long-term cycling. Zn||Zn0.25V2O5·nH2O full cells retain ~83% of their capacity after 1,000 cycles with mass-limited Zn anodes. By restricting the depth of discharge, the cathodes exhibit less proton intercalation and LDH formation with an extended lifetime of 2,000 cycles.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003525
OSTI ID:
1872004
Report Number(s):
SAND2022-6489J; 706092
Journal Information:
Joule, Journal Name: Joule Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 6; ISSN 2542-4351
Publisher:
Elsevier - Cell PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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