{"title":"Understanding the Critical Bulk Properties of Zn-Salt Solution Electrolytes for Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries","authors":"Shichen Sun, Xi Yang, Aidan Billings, Kevin Huang","doi":"10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c00535","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The unique technical merits of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted significant interest in the development of grid-scale energy storage technologies in the past decade. However, the development of AZIBs is severely hampered by the poor cycle stability, which exclusively stems from the electrolyte/electrode interactions. To address this issue, knowledge of the bulk properties of electrolytes, a pivotal component of AZIBs, is needed. Unfortunately, there still exists a significant gap in the data and understanding of these properties. This study investigates the concentration-dependent bulk properties of Zn-salt solution electrolytes through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. Key bulk properties such as pH, conductivity, water activity, hydrogen bonding, and electrochemical stability of five Zn-salt solutions are systematically studied as a function of concentration through a suite of experiments and theoretically interpreted by quantum chemistry calculations, molecular dynamics, and a tailored solvation model considering multispecies ion–ion and ion–molecule interactions. The model-produced theoretical results agree well with the experimental data. The revealed theoretical insights offer valuable fundamental guidance for future electrolyte discovery and understanding/mitigating degradation mechanisms in AZIBs.","PeriodicalId":33,"journal":{"name":"Chemistry of Materials","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Chemistry of Materials","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c00535","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The unique technical merits of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted significant interest in the development of grid-scale energy storage technologies in the past decade. However, the development of AZIBs is severely hampered by the poor cycle stability, which exclusively stems from the electrolyte/electrode interactions. To address this issue, knowledge of the bulk properties of electrolytes, a pivotal component of AZIBs, is needed. Unfortunately, there still exists a significant gap in the data and understanding of these properties. This study investigates the concentration-dependent bulk properties of Zn-salt solution electrolytes through a combined experimental and theoretical approach. Key bulk properties such as pH, conductivity, water activity, hydrogen bonding, and electrochemical stability of five Zn-salt solutions are systematically studied as a function of concentration through a suite of experiments and theoretically interpreted by quantum chemistry calculations, molecular dynamics, and a tailored solvation model considering multispecies ion–ion and ion–molecule interactions. The model-produced theoretical results agree well with the experimental data. The revealed theoretical insights offer valuable fundamental guidance for future electrolyte discovery and understanding/mitigating degradation mechanisms in AZIBs.
期刊介绍:
The journal Chemistry of Materials focuses on publishing original research at the intersection of materials science and chemistry. The studies published in the journal involve chemistry as a prominent component and explore topics such as the design, synthesis, characterization, processing, understanding, and application of functional or potentially functional materials. The journal covers various areas of interest, including inorganic and organic solid-state chemistry, nanomaterials, biomaterials, thin films and polymers, and composite/hybrid materials. The journal particularly seeks papers that highlight the creation or development of innovative materials with novel optical, electrical, magnetic, catalytic, or mechanical properties. It is essential that manuscripts on these topics have a primary focus on the chemistry of materials and represent a significant advancement compared to prior research. Before external reviews are sought, submitted manuscripts undergo a review process by a minimum of two editors to ensure their appropriateness for the journal and the presence of sufficient evidence of a significant advance that will be of broad interest to the materials chemistry community.