Decorative separator with spongy morphology polyaniline enables dendrite free zinc ion hybrid supercapacitor

Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs) have arose as a favourable energy storage device because of their low cost, excellent safety profile, and eco-friendly nature. Unfortunately, the device shorts out due to the glass fiber's strong affinity for zinc ions, which causes zinc dendrites to develop towards the separator. An innovative approach of controlling zinc deposition behaviors through the use of pyrolysis polyaniline functionalized glass fiber (GF-PANI) separator is presented here. Zinc ion flow and deposition behavior are both controlled by the porous PANI structure, which serve to confine the ions. Abundant nitrogen-containing functional groups have the ability to absorb molecules of water. This greatly enhances the zinc anode's reversibility and safety features. Consequently, GF-PANI separators based Zn/Zn symmetric cells have a higher cycle life, lasting up to 800 h at 2 mA cm⁻² and 1 mA h cm⁻² (120 h). Furthermore, a Zn/JAC cell with GF-PANI separator demonstrates a good specific capacity even after 40,000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹ in comparison to Zn/GF/JAC cells. This study investigated the design of synergistic, economical, and efficient separators for ZHSCs.