Regulating zinc deposition behaviors by functional cotton textiles as separators for aqueous zinc-metal batteries

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries (AZBs) have been regarded as promising large-scale energy storage tech-nologies, due to their low cost and high safety. However, the dendrite growth and side reactions on the Zn metal anode hinder their practical application. Herein, the cotton textiles-based separators with easily-fabricated and cost-effective features are demonstrated for AZBs. By complexing inorganic fluoperovskite NaZnF3 and organic Nafion layers, the as-fabricated separator (CT@NZF@N) can regulate the zinc plating/stripping behavior, which will reduce the zinc nucleation overpotential and lower the charge transfer resistance, thus achieving a highly reversible Zn plating/stripping process with corrosion-free and dendrite-free behavior. Consequently, the zinc symmetric cell with CT@NZF@N separator exhibits prolonged cycle life up to 300 h (0.5 mA cm-2, 0.5 mAh cm-2) in a mild ZnSO4 electrolyte. Moreover, the functional separator also enables V2O5//Zn battery signifi-cantly improved rate capability and cyclability. This work provides an appealing strategy for designing reliable, efficient, and cost-effective separators for high-performance AZBs.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a cotton textiles-based separator for rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries. By complexing inorganic and organic layers, the separator can regulate the behavior of zinc plating/stripping, achieving a highly reversible process. The zinc symmetric cell and V2O5//Zn battery both show significant performance improvements.