Fast ion diffusion alloy layer facilitating 3D mesh substrate for dendrite-free zinc-ion hybrid capacitors

Although aqueous zinc ion hybrid capacitors have advantageous integration of batteries and supercapacitors,they still suffer from the inherent problems of dendrite growth and interfacial side reactions on Zn anodes.Herein,a universal fast zinc-ion diffusion layer on a three-dimensional(3 D)mesh structure model is demonstrated to effectively improve Zn plating/stripping reversibility.The fast ion diffusion alloy layer accelerates the Zn^(2+)migration in an orderly manner to homogenize Zn^(2+)flux and overcomes the defects of the commercial mesh substrate,effectively avoiding dendrite growth and side reactions.Consequently,the proof-of-concept silver-zinc alloy modified stainless steel mesh delivers superb reversibility with the high coulombic efficiency over 99.4%at 4 mA cm^(-2)after 1600 cycles and excellent reliability of over 830 h at 1 mA cm^(-2),Its feasibility is also evidenced in commercial zinc ion hybrid capacitors with activated carbon as the cathode.This work enriches the fundamental comprehension of fast zinc-ion diffusion layer combined with a 3 D substrate on the Zn deposition and opens a universal approach to design advanced host for Zn electrodes in zinc ion hybrid capacitors.

Controllable synthesis of high loading LiFePO_4/C nanocomposites using bimodal mesoporous carbon as support for high power Li-ion battery cathodes

Mesoporous LiFePO4/C composites containing 80 wt% of highly dispersed LiFePO4 nanoparticles(4-6 nm) were fabricated using bimodal mesoporous carbon(BMC) as continuous conductive networks. The unique pore structure of BMC not only promises good particle connectivity for LiFePO4, but also acts as a rigid nano-confinement support that controls the particle size. Furthermore, the capacities were investigated respectively based on the weight of LiFePO4 and the whole composite. When calculated based on the weight of the whole composite, it is 120 mAh·g-1at 0.1 C of the high loading electrode and 42 mAh·g-1at 10 C of the low loading electrode. The electrochemical performance shows that high LiFePO4 loading benefits large tap density and contributes to the energy storage at low rates, while the electrode with low content of LiFePO4 displays superior high rate performance, which can mainly be due to the small particle size, good dispersion and high utilization of the active material, thus leading to a fast ion and electron diffusion.

Self-assembled α-MnO2 urchin-like microspheres as a high-performance cathode for aqueous Zn-ion batteries

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries(AZIBs)are one of the promising battery technologies for the green energy storage and electric vehicles.As one attractive cathode material for AZIBs,α-MnO2 materials exhibit superior electrochemical properties.However,their long-term reversibility is still in great suspense.Considering the decisive effect of the structure and morphology on theα-MnO2 materials,hierarchicalα-MnO2 materials would be promising to improve the cycle performance of AZIB.Here,we synthesized theα-MnO2 urchin-like microspheres(AUM)via a self-assembled method.The porous microspheres composed of one-dimensionalα-MnO2 nanofibers with high crystallinity,which improved the surface area and active sites for Zn2+intercalation.The AUM-based AZIB realized a high initial capacity of 308.0 mA hg-1,and the highest energy density was 396.7 W hkg-1.The kinetics investigation confirmed the high capacitive contribution and fast ion diffusion of the AUM.Ex-situ XRD measurement further verified the synergistic insertion/extraction of H+and Zn2+ions during the charge/discharge process.The superiority of the AUM guaranteed good electrochemical performance and reversible phase evolution,and this application would promote the follow-up research on the advanced AZIB.