High voltage and healing flexible zinc ion battery based on ionogel electrolyte

Huili Li; Yanan Liu; Zilin Chen; Yunlong Yang; Tian Lv; Tao Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.088

High voltage and healing flexible zinc ion battery based on ionogel electrolyte

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jun:639:408-415. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.088. Epub 2023 Jan 21.

Authors

Huili Li¹, Yanan Liu², Zilin Chen², Yunlong Yang², Tian Lv³, Tao Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, PR China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
² Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
³ Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: 18012@tongji.edu.cn.
⁴ Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: tchen@tongji.edu.cn.

PMID: 36812856
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.088

Abstract

Flexible and multifunctional zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) play an important role in flexible or wearable electronics. Polymer gels with outstanding mechanical stretchability and high ionic conductivity are very promising to be used as electrolytes for the solid-state ZIBs. Herein, a novel ionogel of poly(N,N'-dimethylacrylamide)/zinc trifluoromethanesulfonate (PDMAAm/Zn(CF₃SO₃)₂) is designed and synthesized by UV-initiated polymerization of monomer DMAAm in ionic liquid solvent 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([Bmim][TfO]). The prepared PDMAAm/Zn(CF₃SO₃)₂ ionogels possess high mechanical performance (893.7% tensile strain and 151.0 kPa tensile strength), moderate ionic conductivity (0.96 mS cm^-1) and superior healable performance. The as-prepared ZIBs based on PDMAAm/Zn(CF₃SO₃)₂ ionogel electrolyte assembled by carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polyaniline as cathode and CNTs/Zn as anode not only exhibit excellent electrochemical properties (up to 2.5 V), flexible and cyclic performance, but also possess good healability for five broken/healed cycles with slight 12.5% performance decay. More significantly, the broken/healed ZIBs exhibit superior flexibility and cyclic stability. This ionogel electrolyte can be extended the flexible energy storage devices for use in other multifunctional portable and wearable energy related devices.

Keywords: Flexibility; Healable; High voltage; Ionogel electrolyte; Zinc ion battery.