Nanoconfinement-Driven Interface Boosts Zinc Deposition Kinetics toward Dendrite-Free Zinc Anodes

Abstract

Dendrite growth and side reactions are two major obstacles for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) in field of stationary energy storage. While constructing a corrosion-resistant interface is an effective approach to stabilize zinc anode, slow deposition kinetics at this interface remains a significant challenge. Herein, we construct an ion-conducting Zn-based MOF (Zn-BTC) layer on the zinc anode by an anodic growth method. The Zn-BTC layer effectively mitigates interfacial corrosion by physically separating zinc from the electrolyte. Moreover, the multiscale nanopore architecture of Zn-BTC creates nanoconfined environments that manipulate ion transport behaviors and thus boost deposition kinetics. As a result, the Zn-BTC@Zn symmetric cell achieves ultra-stable cycle life of over 3000 h and low polarization voltage of 30 mV at 1 mA cm-2 and 1 mAh cm-2, compared to Bare Zn (less than 300 h, 42 mV), respectively. Furthermore, the Zn-BTC@Zn//NH4V4O10 full cell maintains a capacity of 91.5 mAh g-1 after 10000 cycles at 3 A g-1, with a capacity retention rate of 65.8%. This work proposes a new interfacial layer with rich multiscale pore structure, which can effectively inhibit the growth and corrosion of zinc dendrites and can also be applied to other metal anodes.