A New Zinc Salt Chemistry for Aqueous Zinc-Metal Batteries

Haoran Du; Yanhao Dong; Qing-Jie Li; Ruirui Zhao; Xiaoqun Qi; Wang-Hay Kan; Liumin Suo; Long Qie; Ju Li; Yunhui Huang

doi:10.1002/adma.202210055

A New Zinc Salt Chemistry for Aqueous Zinc-Metal Batteries

Adv Mater. 2023 Jun;35(25):e2210055. doi: 10.1002/adma.202210055. Epub 2023 May 5.

Authors

Haoran Du^{1

2}, Yanhao Dong³, Qing-Jie Li⁴, Ruirui Zhao², Xiaoqun Qi¹, Wang-Hay Kan⁵, Liumin Suo⁶, Long Qie¹, Ju Li^{4

7}, Yunhui Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die and Mold Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.
² Institute of New Energy for Vehicles, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 201804, Shanghai, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁵ China Spallation Neutron Source, Chinese Academy of Science, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523890, China.
⁶ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Material and Devices, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, 100190, Beijing, China.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.

PMID: 36637812
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202210055

Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising energy storage solutions with low cost and superior safety, but they suffer from chemical and electrochemical degradations closely related to the electrolyte. Here, a new zinc salt design and a drop-in solution for long cycle-life aqueous ZIBs are reported. The salt Zn(BBI)₂ with a rationally designed anion group, N-(benzenesulfonyl)benzenesulfonamide (BBI^- ), has a special amphiphilic molecular structure, which combines the benefits of hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups to properly tune the solubility and interfacial condition. This new zinc salt does not contain fluorine and is synthesized via a high-yield and low-cost method. It is shown that 1 m Zn(BBI)₂ aqueous electrolyte with a widened cathodic stability window effectively stabilizes Zn metal/H₂ O interface, mitigates chemical and electrochemical degradations, and enables both symmetric and full cells using a zinc-metal electrode.

Keywords: Zn protection; Zn salts; Zn-metal batteries; aqueous electrolytes.

Abstract

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