Proton-selective coating enables fast-kinetics high-mass-loading cathodes for sustainable zinc batteries

Quanquan Guo; Wei Li; Xiaodong Li; Jiaxu Zhang; Davood Sabaghi; Jianjun Zhang; Bowen Zhang; Dongqi Li; Jingwei Du; Xingyuan Chu; Sein Chung; Kilwon Cho; Nguyen Ngan Nguyen; Zhongquan Liao; Zhen Zhang; Xinxing Zhang; Grégory F Schneider; Thomas Heine; Minghao Yu; Xinliang Feng

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-46464-9

Proton-selective coating enables fast-kinetics high-mass-loading cathodes for sustainable zinc batteries

Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 8;15(1):2139. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46464-9.

Authors

Quanquan Guo^#^{1

2

3}, Wei Li^#^{1

4}, Xiaodong Li^#^{1

2}, Jiaxu Zhang¹, Davood Sabaghi¹, Jianjun Zhang¹, Bowen Zhang⁵, Dongqi Li¹, Jingwei Du¹, Xingyuan Chu¹, Sein Chung⁶, Kilwon Cho⁶, Nguyen Ngan Nguyen^{1

2}, Zhongquan Liao⁵, Zhen Zhang⁷, Xinxing Zhang³, Grégory F Schneider⁸, Thomas Heine^{9

10

11}, Minghao Yu¹², Xinliang Feng^{13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) & Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
² Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany.
³ State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, PR China.
⁵ Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and System (IKTS), Maria-Reiche-Straße 2, Dresden, Germany.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, South Korea.
⁷ School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
⁸ Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9502, Leiden, The Netherlands.
⁹ Theoretical Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Resource Ecology, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Leipzig Research Branch, Leipzig, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu Seoul, Korea.
¹² Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) & Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. minghao.yu@tu-dresden.de.
¹³ Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) & Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. xinliang.feng@tu-dresden.de.
¹⁴ Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Saale), Germany. xinliang.feng@tu-dresden.de.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The pressing demand for sustainable energy storage solutions has spurred the burgeoning development of aqueous zinc batteries. However, kinetics-sluggish Zn²⁺ as the dominant charge carriers in cathodes leads to suboptimal charge-storage capacity and durability of aqueous zinc batteries. Here, we discover that an ultrathin two-dimensional polyimine membrane, featured by dual ion-transport nanochannels and rich proton-conduction groups, facilitates rapid and selective proton passing. Subsequently, a distinctive electrochemistry transition shifting from sluggish Zn²⁺-dominated to fast-kinetics H⁺-dominated Faradic reactions is achieved for high-mass-loading cathodes by using the polyimine membrane as an interfacial coating. Notably, the NaV₃O₈·1.5H₂O cathode (10 mg cm^-2) with this interfacial coating exhibits an ultrahigh areal capacity of 4.5 mAh cm^-2 and a state-of-the-art energy density of 33.8 Wh m^-2, along with apparently enhanced cycling stability. Additionally, we showcase the applicability of the interfacial proton-selective coating to different cathodes and aqueous electrolytes, validating its universality for developing reliable aqueous batteries.

Abstract

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