Ammonium fluoride additive-modified interphase chemistry stabilizes zinc anodes in aqueous electrolytes

Herein, ammonium fluoride is reported as an additive within 1 M ZnSO4 aqueous electrolyte to improve zinc anodes. The as-formed electrostatic shielding layer and ZnF2-rich solid-state interphase layer can jointly inhibit side reactions and dendrite growth. Consequently, symmetric Zn||Zn cells, asymmetric Zn||Cu cells and Zn||MnO2 cells with the additives present dramatically enhanced performance in comparison to the ones with pure ZnSO4 electrolyte counterparts. This work proposes a facile but effective method to achieve highly reversible zinc anodes. NH4F is reported as an effective electrolyte additive to realize high-performance zinc electrodeposition in aqueous electrolytes.

Automated summary

This study reports the use of ammonium fluoride as an additive in zinc sulfate electrolyte to enhance zinc anodes. The formation of electrostatic shielding layer and ZnF2-rich solid-state interphase layer can effectively inhibit side reactions and dendrite growth, leading to improved performance in zinc cells.