AUTHOR=Thorat Gaurav M. , Ho Van-Chuong , Mun Junyoung TITLE=Zn-Based Deep Eutectic Solvent as the Stabilizing Electrolyte for Zn Metal Anode in Rechargeable Aqueous Batteries JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.825807 DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.825807 ISSN=2296-2646 ABSTRACT=

Owing to its low cost and high safety, metallic zinc has received considerable attention as an anode material for zinc aqueous batteries (ZIBs). However, the Zn metal instability as a result ultrafast of obstinate dendrite formation, free-water-induced parasite reactions, and corrosive electrolytes has detrimental effects on the implementation of ZIBs. We present an alternative stable electrolyte for ZIBs based on a zinc chloride/ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent (DES). This electrolyte consists of abundant low-cost materials and a utilizable Zn2+ concentration of approximately 1 M. It combines the advantages of the aqueous and DES media to provide safe and reversible Zn plating/stripping with a two-fold increase in the cycling life compared to that of conventional aqueous electrolytes. With these advantages, the Zn symmetric cell operates at 0.2 mA cm−2 for 300 h. Due to its high efficiency and compositional versatility, this electrolyte enables the investigation of a non-aqueous electrolyte family for ZIBs that fulfill grid-scale electrical energy storage requirements.