A Cost-Effective Silica Fume Coating Layer for Stable Zn Metal Anodes

TL;DR

A silica fume coating improves the stability of zinc metal anodes in batteries, enabling long cycling and high capacity.

Contribution

A cost-effective silica fume coating is introduced to suppress dendrite growth and enhance anode performance in aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Findings

The SF@Zn symmetric cell achieved stable cycling for 1800 hours at 0.5 mA·cm−2.

The full cell retained 100.4 mAh·g−1 capacity after 1800 cycles at 1.0 A·g−1.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
SF@Zn can promote uniform deposition between silica particles and suppress dendrite growth.The symmetric cell with SF@Zn achieved stable cycling for 1800 h at 0.5 mA·cm−2, while the full cell delivered a capacity of 246.2 mAh·g−1 at 1.0 A·g−1 and retained a capacity of 100.4 mAh·g−1 after 1800 cycles.

SF@Zn can promote uniform deposition between silica particles and suppress dendrite growth.

The symmetric cell with SF@Zn achieved stable cycling for 1800 h at 0.5 mA·cm−2, while the full cell delivered a capacity of 246.2 mAh·g−1 at 1.0 A·g−1 and retained a capacity of 100.4 mAh·g−1 after 1800 cycles.

What are the implications of the main findings?
The use of silica fume as a protective layer represents a high-value application of industrial byproducts.The use of silica fume as a protective layer offers new insights into anode design for aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

The use of silica fume as a protective layer represents a high-value application of industrial byproducts.

The use of silica fume as a protective layer offers new insights into anode design for aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries have emerged as a research hotspot due to their advantages of safety, environmental friendliness, low cost, and high capacity. At the same time, there are some problems with anode materials, such as zinc dendrite growth and corrosion reactions. In this work, silica fume, a byproduct of industrial silicon smelting, was selected as a coating material for the Zn anode (SF@Zn). This material is not only cost-effective and widely available but also exhibits superior hydrophilicity, enhancing the electrolyte’s wettability on the anode. Additionally, it serves as an ion shunt, preventing uneven deposition of Zn2+, and it was demonstrated that the symmetrical cell achieved a cycle life of up to 1800 h at 0.5 mA·cm−2. The full cell delivered a capacity of 246.2 mAh·g−1 at 1 mA·cm−2 and retained a capacity of 100.4 mAh·g−1 after 1800 cycles.

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