Long-life and dendrite-free zinc metal anode enabled by a flexible, green and self-assembled zincophilic biomass engineered MXene based interface

As a promising candidate of safety, low-cost and eco-friendliness, Zn metal batteries still suffer from poor stability and irreversibility, which attribute to dendrite growth and accompanied side reactions. To enable highly reversible Zn anode, a flexible and self-assembled biomass engineered MXene film, functioning as an artificial protective interface, is firmly adhered on the Zn foil surface by facile blade-casting. This amine-rich ultrathin protective film not only effectively protects fresh Zn against water corrosion, but also promotes Zn nucleation and triggers homogeneous Zn plating/stripping underneath the film attributing to its excellent adhesion, flexibility, hydrophilicity and strong coordination of amine groups to Zn2+. Meanwhile, the conductive MXene component can terminate the accidental Zn dendrites by ionizing the contacted Zn and dispersing the tip electric field. Consequently, the protected Zn electrode delivers prolonged cycling life and improved coulombic efficiency, which also conduces to improving the full cell performance when it is matched with MnO2 cathodes. This work brings a new insight into the practical design of highly reversible Zn metal anodes.

Automated summary

By coating a flexible and self-assembled biomass engineered MXene film on the surface of zinc foil, researchers have found an effective way to protect zinc, suppress dendrite growth, and improve the reversibility and lifespan of zinc electrodes. This work brings new insights into the practical design of highly reversible zinc metal anodes.