Electroless plated Cu-coated cotton interlayer: a macroscopic 3D zincophilic interface for enhanced anode stability in aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have gained a lot of interest as a potential alternative energy storage system due to their high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, dendrite formation on the zinc anode causes severe stability issues and remains a major obstacle for AZIB applications. In this paper, dual electrode configuration was proposed utilizing macroscopic 3D Cu interlayer as secondary electrode on zinc metal anode. The interlayer was fabricated through a facile process by electroless plating method which offer the potential of scalability. The Cu interlayer serves multiple synergistic functions, offering (i) abundant zincophilic nucleation sites that guide uniform Zn deposition, (ii) regulation of local current density to alleviate uneven ion flux, and (iii) effective suppression of dendrite formation, leading to exceptional anode stability. As a result, the symmetrical cell exhibits outstanding stripping/plating cycle life of 2200 h at 1 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2. Furthermore, exceptional reversibility was demonstrated in a half cell setup, maintaining stability over 1000 cycles with an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.49 % at 5 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2. This work provides new insight in the design of facile and scalable 3D macroscopic interlayer to enhance the zinc anode stability for future AZIBs application.

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