Single-Anion Conductive Solid-State Electrolytes with Hierarchical Ionic Highways for Flexible Zinc-Air Battery

Abstract

Flexible zinc-air batteries are leading power sources for next-generation smart wearable electronics. However, flexible zinc-air batteries suffer from the highly-corrosive safety risk and limited lifespan due to the absence of reliable solid-state electrolytes (SSEs). Herein, a single-anion conductive SSE with high-safety is constructed by incorporating a highly amorphous dual-cation ionomer into a robust hybrid matrix of functional carbon nanotubes and polyacrylamide polymer. The as-fabricated SSE obtains dual-penetrating ionomer-polymer networks and hierarchical ionic highways, which contribute to mechanical robustness with 1200 % stretchability, decent water uptake and retention, and superhigh ion conductivity of 245 mS ⋅ cm⁻¹ and good Zn anode reversibility. Remarkably, the flexible solid-state zinc-air batteries delivers a high specific capacity of 764 mAh ⋅ g⁻¹ and peak power density of 152 mW ⋅ cm⁻² as well as sustains excellent cycling stability for 1050 cycles (350 hours). This work offers a new paradigm of OH⁻ conductors and broadens the definition and scope of OH⁻ conductors.