Zincophilic Ti_(3)C_(2)Cl_(2)MXene and anti-corrosive Cu NPs for synergistically regulated deposition of dendrite-free Zn metal anode

Dendrites growth,chemical corrosion,and hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)on zinc anodes are the main barriers for the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries(AZIBs).Constructing interfacial protec-tive layer is an effective way to alleviate the side reactions on the anodes.Herein,Cu/Ti_(3)C_(2)Cl_(2)MXene(CMX)with high zincophilic and hydrophobic property is prepared by the lewis molten salts etching method,and the CMX interface protection layer is constructed by a simple spin coating.The CMX coat-ing layer can provide abundant nucleation sites and uniformize the charge distribution through the zin-cophilic Ti_(3)C_(2)Cl_(2)MXene matrix,leading to homogenous Zn deposition.In addition,the hydrophobic coat-ing contained anti-corrosive Cu nanoparticles can prevent the Zn anode from the electrolyte,beneficial for suppressing the chemical corrosion and HER.Therefore,the stable and reversible Zn plating/stripping is achieved for the Zn anode coated by the CMX,which exhibits the lifespan of over 1400 h at 0.5 mA cm^(−2),and even can steadily run for 700 h with 65 mV at 10 mA cm^(−2).Furthermore,CMX@Zn shows a high coulombic efficiency of over 100%for 3800 cycles,which indicates that the CMX@Zn electrode has excellent stability and reversibility of Zn stripping/plating.The full batteries assembled with ZnCoMnO/C(ZCM)cathodes also exhibits higher capacity(450.6 mAh g^(−1)at 0.1 A g^(−1))and cycle stability(capacity retention of 70%after 1500 cycles).This work enhanced the lifespan of AZIBs and broaden the research of multifunctional coating layer to other secondary batteries based on metal anodes.