Stabilized Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc Batteries Using Ethylene Glycol as Water Blocker

Nan Wang; Yang Yang; Xuan Qiu; Xiaoli Dong; Yonggang Wang; Yongyao Xia

doi:10.1002/cssc.202001750

Stabilized Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc Batteries Using Ethylene Glycol as Water Blocker

ChemSusChem. 2020 Oct 21;13(20):5556-5564. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202001750. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Authors

Nan Wang¹, Yang Yang¹, Xuan Qiu¹, Xiaoli Dong¹, Yonggang Wang¹, Yongyao Xia¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Institute of New Energy, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P. R. China.

PMID: 32776455
DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202001750

Abstract

Addressing the cost concerns and safety of zinc metal has stimulated research on mild aqueous Zn-metal batteries. However, their application is limited by dendrite formation and H₂ evolution on the Zn anode. Here, ethylene glycol (EG) is proposed as additional water blocker to form localized high-concentration electrolyte for aqueous Zn batteries. This unique solvation structure inhibits hydrate formation and facilitates close association of Zn²⁺ and SO₄ ^2- , which alleviates undesired H₂ evolution and enables dendrite-free Zn plating/stripping. Accordingly, a Zn//PQ-MCT (phenanthrenequinone macrocyclic trimer) full cell with such electrolyte exhibits a very long cycling life (more than 8000 cycles). Furthermore, this EG-based aqueous electrolyte is non-flammable and inexpensive and prevents evaporation of water when open to the atmosphere, endowing aqueous Zn batteries with excellent safety performance and easy operability in practical applications.

Keywords: batteries; dendrites; ethylene glycol; water blocker; zinc.

Abstract

Grants and funding