Few-layer bismuth selenide cathode for low-temperature quasi-solid-state aqueous zinc metal batteries

Yuwei Zhao; Yue Lu; Huiping Li; Yongbin Zhu; You Meng; Na Li; Donghong Wang; Feng Jiang; Funian Mo; Changbai Long; Ying Guo; Xinliang Li; Zhaodong Huang; Qing Li; Johnny C Ho; Jun Fan; Manling Sui; Furong Chen; Wenguang Zhu; Weishu Liu; Chunyi Zhi

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28380-y

Few-layer bismuth selenide cathode for low-temperature quasi-solid-state aqueous zinc metal batteries

Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 8;13(1):752. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28380-y.

Authors

Yuwei Zhao¹, Yue Lu², Huiping Li³, Yongbin Zhu⁴, You Meng¹, Na Li¹, Donghong Wang¹, Feng Jiang⁴, Funian Mo¹, Changbai Long⁵, Ying Guo¹, Xinliang Li¹, Zhaodong Huang¹, Qing Li¹, Johnny C Ho¹, Jun Fan¹, Manling Sui², Furong Chen¹, Wenguang Zhu⁶, Weishu Liu⁷, Chunyi Zhi^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
² Institute of Microstructure and Properties of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China.
³ International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
⁵ School of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
⁶ International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. wgzhu@ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China. liuws@sustech.edu.cn.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. cy.zhi@cityu.edu.hk.
⁹ Centre for Functional Photonics, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. cy.zhi@cityu.edu.hk.

Abstract

The performances of rechargeable batteries are strongly affected by the operating environmental temperature. In particular, low temperatures (e.g., ≤0 °C) are detrimental to efficient cell cycling. To circumvent this issue, we propose a few-layer Bi₂Se₃ (a topological insulator) as cathode material for Zn metal batteries. When the few-layer Bi₂Se₃ is used in combination with an anti-freeze hydrogel electrolyte, the capacity delivered by the cell at -20 °C and 1 A g^-1 is 1.3 larger than the capacity at 25 °C for the same specific current. Also, at 0 °C the Zn | |few-layer Bi₂Se₃ cell shows capacity retention of 94.6% after 2000 cycles at 1 A g^-1. This behaviour is related to the fact that the Zn-ion uptake in the few-layer Bi₂Se₃ is higher at low temperatures, e.g., almost four Zn²⁺ at 25 °C and six Zn²⁺ at -20 °C. We demonstrate that the unusual performance improvements at low temperatures are only achievable with the few-layer Bi₂Se₃ rather than bulk Bi₂Se₃. We also show that the favourable low-temperature conductivity and ion diffusion capability of few-layer Bi₂Se₃ are linked with the presence of topological surface states and weaker lattice vibrations, respectively.