Constructing robust heterostructured interface for anode-free zinc batteries with ultrahigh capacities

Xinhua Zheng; Zaichun Liu; Jifei Sun; Ruihao Luo; Kui Xu; Mingyu Si; Ju Kang; Yuan Yuan; Shuang Liu; Touqeer Ahmad; Taoli Jiang; Na Chen; Mingming Wang; Yan Xu; Mingyan Chuai; Zhengxin Zhu; Qia Peng; Yahan Meng; Kai Zhang; Weiping Wang; Wei Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35630-6

Constructing robust heterostructured interface for anode-free zinc batteries with ultrahigh capacities

Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 5;14(1):76. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-35630-6.

Authors

Xinhua Zheng^#¹, Zaichun Liu^#¹, Jifei Sun¹, Ruihao Luo¹, Kui Xu¹, Mingyu Si², Ju Kang², Yuan Yuan¹, Shuang Liu¹, Touqeer Ahmad¹, Taoli Jiang¹, Na Chen¹, Mingming Wang¹, Yan Xu¹, Mingyan Chuai¹, Zhengxin Zhu¹, Qia Peng¹, Yahan Meng¹, Kai Zhang¹, Weiping Wang¹, Wei Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, 230026, Hefei, Anhui, China.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, 102617, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, 230026, Hefei, Anhui, China. weichen1@ustc.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The development of Zn-free anodes to inhibit Zn dendrite formation and modulate high-capacity Zn batteries is highly applauded yet very challenging. Here, we design a robust two-dimensional antimony/antimony-zinc alloy heterostructured interface to regulate Zn plating. Benefiting from the stronger adsorption and homogeneous electric field distribution of the Sb/Sb₂Zn₃-heterostructured interface in Zn plating, the Zn anode enables an ultrahigh areal capacity of 200 mAh cm^-2 with an overpotential of 112 mV and a Coulombic efficiency of 98.5%. An anode-free Zn-Br₂ battery using the Sb/Sb₂Zn₃-heterostructured interface@Cu anode shows an attractive energy density of 274 Wh kg^-1 with a practical pouch cell energy density of 62 Wh kg^-1. The scaled-up Zn-Br₂ battery in a capacity of 500 mAh exhibits over 400 stable cycles. Further, the Zn-Br₂ battery module in an energy of 9 Wh (6 V, 1.5 Ah) is integrated with a photovoltaic panel to demonstrate the practical renewable energy storage capabilities. Our superior anode-free Zn batteries enabled by the heterostructured interface enlighten an arena towards large-scale energy storage applications.