Ionic Layer Epitaxy Growth of Organic/Inorganic Composite Protective Layers for Large-Area Li and Zn Metal Anodes

Di Yang; Xiaoyu Wu; Li He; Hainan Zhao; Yizhan Wang; Zeyu Zhang; Jingyi Qiu; Xibang Chen; Yingjin Wei

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03639

Ionic Layer Epitaxy Growth of Organic/Inorganic Composite Protective Layers for Large-Area Li and Zn Metal Anodes

Nano Lett. 2023 Dec 13;23(23):11152-11160. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03639. Epub 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Di Yang^{1

2}, Xiaoyu Wu¹, Li He¹, Hainan Zhao¹, Yizhan Wang^{1

3}, Zeyu Zhang⁴, Jingyi Qiu⁴, Xibang Chen⁴, Yingjin Wei^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Physics and Technology for Advanced Batteries (Ministry of Education), College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China.
³ Chongqing Research Institute, Jilin University, Chongqing 401123, China.
⁴ Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Beijing 100191, China.

PMID: 37975687
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03639

Abstract

Li and Zn metal batteries using organic and aqueous electrolytes, respectively, are desirable next-generation energy storage systems to replace the traditional Li-ion batteries. However, their cycle life and safety performance are severely constrained by a series of issues that are attributed to dendrite growth. To solve these issues, a nanothick ZnO-oleic acid (ZnO-OA) composite protective layer is developed by a facile ionic layer epitaxy method. The ZnO-OA layer provides strong lithophilic and zincophilic properties, which can effectively induce uniform ion deposition. As a result, the ZnO-OA protected Li and Zn metal anodes can cycle stably for over 600 and 1000 h under a large current density of 10 mA cm^-2. Employing the ZnO-OA protected anodes, the Li||LiFePO₄ cell can maintain a capacity retention of 99.5% after 600 cycles at a 1 C rate and the Zn||MnO₂ cell can operate stably for 1000 cycles at 1 A g^-1 current density.

Keywords: Anode protection; Ionic layer epitaxy growth; Lithium metal battery; Zinc metal battery.