Improvement of surface stability of Zn anode by a cost-effective ErCl3 additive for realizing high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Yi Xiong; Xingxing Gu; Zixun Liu; Xiaolei Ren; Yanke Jiang; Hanyu Xu; Lin Zhuo; Guangming Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.111

Improvement of surface stability of Zn anode by a cost-effective ErCl₃ additive for realizing high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 May 15:662:604-613. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.111. Epub 2024 Feb 15.

Authors

Yi Xiong¹, Xingxing Gu², Zixun Liu³, Xiaolei Ren¹, Yanke Jiang¹, Hanyu Xu¹, Lin Zhuo¹, Guangming Jiang³

Affiliations

¹ Chongqing Key Laboratory of Catalysis and New Environmental Materials, College of Environment and Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China.
² Chongqing Key Laboratory of Catalysis and New Environmental Materials, College of Environment and Resources, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China. Electronic address: x.gu@ctbu.edu.cn.
³ Engineering Research Center for Waste Oil Recovery Technology and Equipment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing 400067, China.

PMID: 38367578
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.111

Abstract

Rechargeable aqueous-zinc ion batteries (AZIB) have notable benefits in terms of high safety and low cost. Nevertheless, the challenges, such as dendrite growth, zinc anode corrosion, and hydrogen evolution reaction, impede its practical implementation. Hence, this study proposes the introduction of an economical ErCl₃ electrolyte additive to stabilize the Zn anode surface and address the aforementioned issues. The introduced Er³⁺ will cover the raised zinc dendrite surface and weaken the "tip effect" on the surface of the zinc anode via the "electrostatic shielding" effect. Simultaneously, the introduced Cl^- can reduce the polarization of the zinc anode. Due to the synergistic effect of Er³⁺ and Cl^-, the zinc anode corrosion, dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution have been efficiently inhibited. As a result, the Zn||Zn-symmetric battery using ErCl₃ additive can stably cycle for 1100 h at 1 mA cm^-2, 1 mAh cm^-2, and exhibit a high average coulomb efficiency (99.2 %). Meanwhile, Zn||MnO₂ full battery based on ErCl₃-added electrolyte also demonstrates a high reversible capacity of 157.1 mAh/g after 500 cycles. Obviously, the capacity decay rate of the full battery is also improved, only 0.113 % per cycle. This study offers a straightforward and economically efficient method for stabilizing the zinc anode and realizing high-performance AZIBs.

Keywords: Aqueous zinc batteries; ErCl(3) additive; Surface stability; Zinc anode.