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Recent Advances in Zn-Ion Batteries

Although current high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have taken over the commercial rechargeable battery market, increasing concerns about limited lithium resources, high cost, and insecurity of organic electrolyte scale-up limit their further development. Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), an alternative battery chemistry, have paved the way not only for realizing environmentally benign and safe energy storage devices but also for reducing the manufacturing costs of next-generation batteries. This Review underscores recent advances in aqueous ZIBs; these include the design of a highly reversible Zn anode, optimization of the electrolyte, and a wide range of cathode materials and their energy storage mechanisms. We also present recent advanced techniques that aim at overcoming the current issues in aqueous ZIB systems. This Review on the future perspectives and research directions will provide a guide for future aqueous ZIB study.

Recent Advances in Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Zinc-ion batteries built on water-based electrolytes featuring compelling price-points, competitive performance, and enhanced safety represent advanced energy storage chemistry as a promising alternative to current lithium-ion battery systems. Attempts to develop rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) can be traced to as early as the 1980s; however, since 2015, the research activity in this field has surged throughout the world. Despite the achievements made in exploring electrode materials so far, significant challenges remain at the material level and even on the whole aqueous ZIBs system, leading to the failure of ZIBs to meet commercial requirements. This review aims to discuss how to pave the way for developing aqueous ZIBs. The current research efforts related to aqueous ZIBs electrode materials and electrolytes are summarized, including an analysis of the problems encountered in both cathode/anode materials and electrolyte optimization. Some concerns and feasible solutions for achieving practical aqueous ZIBs are discussed in detail. We would like to point out that merely improving the electrode materials is not enough; synergistic optimization strategies toward the whole battery system are also deeply needed. Finally, some perspectives are provided on the subsequent optimization design for further research efforts in the aqueous ZIB field.

Issues and opportunities facing aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries are promising energy storage devices due to their high safety and low cost. However, they remain in their infancy because of the limited choice of positive electrodes with high capacity and satisfactory cycling performance. Furthermore, their energy storage mechanisms are not well established yet. Here we report a highly reversible zinc/sodium vanadate system, where sodium vanadate hydrate nanobelts serve as positive electrode and zinc sulfate aqueous solution with sodium sulfate additive is used as electrolyte. Different from conventional energy release/storage in zinc-ion batteries with only zinc-ion insertion/extraction, zinc/sodium vanadate hydrate batteries possess a simultaneous proton, and zinc-ion insertion/extraction process that is mainly responsible for their excellent performance, such as a high reversible capacity of 380 mAh g–1 and capacity retention of 82% over 1000 cycles. Moreover, the quasi-solid-state zinc/sodium vanadate hydrate battery is also a good candidate for flexible energy storage device. Rechargeable zinc-ion batteries are promising energy storage devices but suffer from the limited choice of positive electrodes. Here Niu and co-workers show a design with sodium vanadate hydrate as cathode, allowing simultaneous proton and zinc-ion insertion/extraction and enhanced performance.

/pdf/aqueous-rechargeable-zinc-sodium-vanadate-batteries-with-42u45gzo5a.pdf

Aqueous rechargeable zinc/sodium vanadate batteries with enhanced performance from simultaneous insertion of dual carriers.

https://www.cell.com/joule/pdf/S2542-4351(20)30094-5.pdf

Scientific Challenges for the Implementation of Zn-Ion Batteries

Electrochemically induced spinel-layered phase transition of Mn3O4 in high performance neutral aqueous rechargeable zinc battery

Investigation of zinc ion storage of transition metal oxides, sulfides, and borides in zinc ion battery systems

With the fast development of portable and wearable devices, flexible supercapacitor electrodes are widely researched. Here, comprehensive approaches were designed to introduce carbon nanotube (CNT) and/or MnO2 into activated carbon fiber felt (ACFF) using “dipping and drying” method. Differences on micro-morphologies and electrochemical characteristics for prepared textiles were compared. High-performance flexible MnO2/CNT/ACFF composite electrodes were synthesized by introducing CNT and MnO2/CNT fillers successively. Compared with original ACFF textiles, significant improvements in electrochemical performance were achieved. Areal capacitance, energy density and power density of the composite textiles reached as high as 4148 mF cm−2, 141 μWh cm−2 and 4466 μW cm−2, respectively. Furthermore, flexible supercapacitors were fabricated based on the composite textile electrodes and gel electrolytes. When being bent at different angles or suffering deformations such as bending for 100 cycles, the flexible supercapacitors preserve almost all the capacitance, which indicates the excellent flexibility of the composite textile electrode. This work provides various approaches to design composite textiles, and the prepared MnO2/CNT/ACFF composite textile may be a promising electrode material for high-performance flexible supercapacitors.

Jianwu Hao

Papers

Electrochemically induced spinel-layered phase transition of Mn3O4 in high performance neutral aqueous rechargeable zinc battery

Investigation of zinc ion storage of transition metal oxides, sulfides, and borides in zinc ion battery systems

Comprehensive approaches to three-dimensional flexible supercapacitor electrodes based on MnO2/carbon nanotube/activated carbon fiber felt