Construction of ultrathin solid electrolyte interface on Zn anode within 1 min for high current operating condition

Abstract

Organic acid treatment can facilitate the in-situ formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on Zn foil protecting the anode from corrosion. However, the generation of hydrogen (H2) during this process is inevitable, which is often considered detrimental to getting compact SEI. Herein, a H2 film-assisted method is proposed under concentrated Amino-Trimethylene-Phosphonic-Acid to construct ultrathin and dense SEI within 1 min. Specifically, the (002) crystal planes survive from the etching process of 1 min due to the adhered H2, inducing uniform deposition and enhanced corrosion-resistance. Moreover, the H2 can effectively regulate the reaction rate, leading to ultrathin SEI and initiating a morphology preservation behavior, which has been neglected by the previous reports. The quick-formed SEI has excellent compatibility, low resistance and effective isolation of electrolyte/anode, whose advantages work together with exposed (002) planes to get accustomed to high-current surge, leading to the ZAC1@Zn//ZAC1@Zn consistently cycling over 800 h at 15 mA cm−2 and 15 mAh cm−2, the ZAC1@Zn//Cu preserves high reversibility (CE 99.7 %), and the ZAC1@Zn//MVO exhibits notable capacity retention at 191.7 mAh/g after 1000 cycles.