Biomimetic proton pocket and effective interfacial modulation for zinc metal anodes  

作　　者：Qi Dong Qingshun Nian Xuan Luo Jiajia Fan Jinyu Jiang Zhuangzhuang Cui Digen Ruan Xiaodi Ren 

机构地区：[1]Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale,CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion,Department of Materials Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei 230026,China

出　　处：《Science China Chemistry》2025年第2期526-535,共10页中国科学(化学英文版)

基　　金：supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2021YFA1201800);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(WK3430000007).

摘　　要：Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries(RAZBs)offer a promising solution for large-scale energy storage due to the abundance,low cost,and safety of Zn.However,practical applications are hindered by Zn anode instability,dendrite growth,and hydrogen evolution reactions(HER).Chaotropic Zn(ClO_(4))2 electrolytes are favorable for low-temperature operations but exacerbate these issues due to their high acidity,leading to severe Zn corrosion and layered double hydroxide formation.We propose a biomimetic strategy using methylguanidoacetic acid(creatine)as a low-cost,eco-friendly additive to address these challenges.Creatine acts as a proton pocket to finely tune the pH of acidic Zn(ClO_(4))2 electrolytes for suppressing HER and stabilizing the Zn anode.Furthermore,the formed creatinine cations adsorb on the Zn surface,promoting highly controlled Zn deposition with a preferred(002)orientation.This approach significantly enhances battery cycling performance,with Zn||Zn cells demonstrating extended cycling stability at both low and high current densities.Zn||Cu cells exhibited improved Coulombic efficiency over thousands of cycles,indicating highly reversible Zn plating/stripping.Notably,stable cell operations were realized at the temperature as low as−35℃ without electrolyte freezing.Our findings highlight the potential of biomimetic proton regulation and interfacial modulation for improving the stability and reversibility of Zn plating/stripping in RAZBs.

关 键 词：zinc metal anode dendrite suppression interfacial modulation proton-triggered cyclization Zn(ClO_(4))2 electrolyte 

分 类 号：TG1[金属学及工艺—金属学]