Rechargeable hybrid organic Zn battery (ReHOZnB) with non-flammable electrolyte

Abstract

ReHOB has been constructed by adopting intrinsically safe organic electrolyte through the replacement of the traditional aqueous electrolyte that displayed good cycling stability with TTFP additive. • Aqueous electrolytes for Zn anode have been replaced by TMP based electrolyte. • The strategy addressed safety concerns along with high Zn reversibility. • Zn/Na 2 Mn[Fe(CN) 6 ] battery exhibited excellent stability with TTFP- additive. Zn-based rechargeable batteries suffer from thermodynamic instability of Zn anode in aqueous electrolytes that results in low Coulombic efficiencies (CEs) and decreased anode reversibility. Therefore, as an alternative, non-aqueous Zn-battery chemistry has gained significant attention in the recent times that can effectively resolve the issues of thermodynamic instability along with improvement in CE of Zn plating/stripping. However, the adoption of organic electrolytes over aqueous ones throws a serious safety challenge. In this work, traditional aqueous electrolytes have been replaced by an intrinsically safe organic electrolyte in dual-ion Zn batteries to construct a rechargeable hybrid organic Zn battery (ReHOZnB) that effectively addresses the safety concerns along with providing highly reversible Zn anode. The Zn/ Na 2 Mn[Fe(CN) 6 ] (Na 2 MnHCf) battery delivered a reversible capacity of 89.3 mAh g −1 at a C-rate of 1 (1C = 160 mA g −1 ) exhibiting long term cycling stability with a capacity retention of 77% (66%) after 1000 (2000) charge–discharge cycles. The cycling performance has been stabilized through in-situ generation of cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI). This works provides an alternate electrolyte for the development of safe Zn batteries.