Zinc-Contained Alloy as a Robustly Adhered Interfacial Lattice Locking Layer for Planar and Stable Zinc Electrodeposition.

Abstract

Stable zinc (Zn)/electrolyte interface is critical for developing rechargeable aqueous Zn-metal batteries with long-term stability, which requires the dense and stable Zn electrodeposition. Herein, an interfacial lattice locking (ILL) layer is constructed via the electro-codeposition of Zn and Cu onto the Zn electrodes. The ILL layer shows a low lattice misfit (δ= 0.036) with Zn(002) plane and selectively locks the lattice orientation of Zn deposits, enabling the epitaxial growth of Zn deposits layer by layer. Benefiting from the unique orientation-guiding and robustly adhered properties, the ILL layer enables the symmetric Zn||Zn cells to achieve an ultralong life span of >6000h at 1mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2 , a low overpotential (65mV) at 10 mAh cm-2 , and a stable Zn plating/stripping for >90h at an ultrahigh Zn depth of discharge (≈85%). Even with a limited Zn supply and a high current density (8.58mA cm-2 ), the ILL@Zn||Ni-doped MnO2 cells can still survive for >2300 cycles.