Two-dimensional CuO nanosheets-induced MOF composites and derivatives for dendrite-free zinc-ion batteries

Uncontrollable dendrite growth and side reactions resulting in short operating life and low Coulombic efficiency have severely hindered the further development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries(AZIBs).In this work,we designed to grow zeolitic imidazolate framework-8(ZIF-8)uniformly on CuO nanosheets(NSs)and prepared carbon-coated CuZn alloy NSs(CuZn@C NSs)by calcination under H_(2)/Ar atmosphere.As reflected by extended X-ray absorption fine structure(EXAFS),density functional theory(DFT),in-situ Raman,the Cu–Zn and Zn–N bonds present in CuZn@C NSs act as zincophilic sites to uniformly absorb Zn ions and inhibit the formation of Zn dendrites.At the same time,CuZn@C NSs hinder the direct contact between zinc anode and electrolyte,preventing the occurrence of side reactions.More impressively,the symmetric cells constructed with CuZn@C NSs anodes exhibited excellent zinc plating/exfoliation performance and long life cycle at different current densities with low voltage hysteresis.In addition,low polarization,high capacity retention,long cycle life over 1000 cycles at 5 A∙g^(−1) were achieved when CuZn@C NSs were used as anodes for CuZn@C/V_(2)O_(5)full cells.