A common polar dye additive as corrosion inhibitor and leveling agent for stable aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Abstract

The industrial application of zinc-ion batteries is restricted by irrepressibledendrite growth and side reactions that resulted from the surfaceheterogeneity of the commercial zinc electrode and thethermodynamic spontaneous corrosion in a weakly acidic aqueouselectrolyte. Herein, a common polar dye, Procion Red MX-5b, with highpolarity and asymmetric charge distribution is introduced into the zincsulfate electrolyte, which can not only reconstruct the solvation configurationof Zn⁺² and strengthen hydrogen bonding to reduce the reactivityof free H₂O but also homogenize interfacial electric field by itspreferentially absorption on the zinc surface. The symmetric cell cancycle with a lower voltage hysteresis (78.4 mV) for 1120 times at5 mA cm⁻² and Zn//NaV3O8·1.5H2O full cell can be cycled over 1000 times with high capacity (average 170 mAh g⁻¹) at 4 A g⁻¹ in the compoundelectrolyte. This study provides a new perspective for additiveengineering strategies of aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Keywords

corrosion inhibitor / leveling agent / multifunctional additive / solvation structure / zinc-ion batteries

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RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2023 The Authors. Electron published by Harbin Institute of Technology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.