Two-Dimensional Material Protective Layer for Improving the Electrochemical Stability of Zinc Ion Battery

Yunhee Ahn¹, Jueun Baek^1,2, Seulgi Kim¹, Segi Byun², Dongju Lee^1*<br/><i>¹</i><i>Department of Urban, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Chungdae-ro 1, Seowon-Gu Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea</i><br/><i>²</i><i>High Temperauture Energy Conversion Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152 Gajung-Ro, Yuseong-gu Daejeon 34129, </i><i>Republic of Korea</i><br/>*e-mail of Corresponding Author: [email protected]<br/><br/><b>ABSTRACT</b><br/>Zinc ion batteries (ZIB) with aqueous electrolytes are promising next-generation energy storage systems due to their high safety, environmental friendliness, low cost, and high energy density. However, zinc anode has many issues, including dendritic growth, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and passivation. The electrode/electrolyte interface is significantly destabilized by dendritic growth and side reactions, which eventually reduce the electrochemical performance. Many studies are being conducted to overcome these problems by electrode structure design, interface modification, and electrolyte optimization.<br/>In this research, we propose a protection layer of zinc metal anode with two-dimensional nanomaterials. Due to their unique structure and variety of physicochemical properties, zinc anode with two-dimensional nanomaterials protection layers have excellent electrochemical performance and cycle stability by restricting zinc dendrite growth. These results suggest that the protective layer based on two-dimensional nanomaterials for zinc anode can be applied in the highly stable energy storage systems.<br/><br/><br/>Acknowledgement<br/>This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korean (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (Ministry of Science and ICT) (2021R1F1A1058854) and the National Research Council of Science & Technology(NST) grant by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. CAP 22071-000).