Constructing Lipid-Like Biomimetic Structure via Electrolyte Designation for Stable Zinc-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted widespread attention in recent years. However, due to the aqueous electrolyte’s high activity, the zinc anode is affected by severe side reactions such as corrosion and hydrogen evolution, resulting in poor reversibility. Inspired by the structure of a lipid bilayer in biology, in this paper, we introduce lithium nonafluorobutylsulfonate to inhibit the water activity via vigorous binding between S═O and H<inf>2</inf>O and form a bilayer lipid-like protective structure on the surface of the zinc anode, thereby improving the reversibility of the zinc anode and extending the lifespan of the ZIBs. The zinc anode in the biomimetic electrolyte demonstrated outstanding reversibility with a 880 h cycle life and 99.91% average Comlombic efficiency in the Zn||Cu asymmetric battery, as well as a 2460 h cycle life and a cumulative capacity of 6 Ah cm^-2 in the Zn||Zn symmetric battery (5 mA cm^-2 and 5 mAh cm^-2). In addition, full cells with Zn<inf>0.25</inf>V<inf>2</inf>O<inf>5</inf>·nH<inf>2</inf>O and MnO<inf>2</inf> show excellent capacity retention of 91.67% after 1200 cycles and 100% after 1000 cycles, respectively. After cycles, the ampere-hour-level pouch cell showed a capacity retention rate of 93%. This method provides a biomimetic strategy for constructing biomimetic electrolytes to improve the reversibility of zinc anodes.