Longyan Li

This review navigates the promise of zinc-ion batteries from fundamental multi-electron redox to practical, safe, and cost-effective aqueous systems for next-generation energy storage.

In this work, a Ni–Co-based ORR-catalyzing electrode was prepared via electrodeposition and paired with a Mn-rich electrolyte to construct a novel ternary zinc-ion battery.

The superior performance of AZIBs with MnO as the cathode of 246 mA h g ⁻¹ after 5000 cycles at 1 A g ⁻¹ is achieved due to the beneficial effects of the optimized 0.5 M ZnSO ₄ + 0.5 M MnSO ₄ electrolyte on both the anode and the cathode.

The rechargeable aqueous hybrid battery is a unique system in which the Li-ion mechanism dominates the cathode while the first-order metal reaction of stripping/depositing regulates the anode. This battery inherits the advantages of the low-cost anode while possessing the capability of the Li-ion cathode. One of the major challenges is to design a proper electrolyte to nourish such strengths and alleviate the downsides, because two different mechanisms are functioning separately at the node–electrolyte and the cathode–electrolyte interfaces. In this work, we design a non-Newtonian electrolyte which offers many advantages for a Zn/LiMn₂O₄ battery. The corrosion is kept low while almost non-dendritic zinc deposition is confirmed by chronoamperometry and ex situ microscopy. The gel strength and gelling duration of such non-Newtonian electrolytes can be controlled. The ionic conductivity of such gels can reach 60 mS⋅cm⁻¹. The battery exhibits reduced self-discharge, 6–10% higher specific discharge capacity than the aqueous reference battery, high rate capability, nearly 80% capacity retention after 1000 cycles, and about 100 mAh⋅g⁻¹ of specific discharge capacity at cycle No. 1000th. Negligible amorphization on the cathode surface and no passivation on the anode surface are observed after 1000 cycles, evidenced by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy on the post-run battery electrodes.