Electrolyte Tuned Robust Interface toward Fast-Charging Zn-Air Battery with Atomic Mo Site Catalyst

Stable operation of sustainable Zn-air batteries (ZABs) has attracted considerable attention, but it remains a huge challenge to achieve temperature-adaptive and fast-charging ZABs. The poor Zn|electrolyte interface and the sluggish charging kinetic are the major obstacles. Here, high-performance ZABs are constructed by designing polarized zincophilic solid-state electrolyte (SSE) with the unique solvation interaction of Zn2+ with ethylene glycol (EG), and atomic Mo site cathode catalyst. On the one hand, the modulation of the solvation structure of Zn2+ ions by partial substitution of H2O with EG inhibits Zn dendrite growth and parasitic reactions, leading to the improvement of the Zn|electrolyte interface. Moreover, the polarized terminal groups in SSE are strongly coordinated with Zn/H2O, which exerts a profound influence on Zn|electrolyte interface stability and low-temperature properties. On the other hand, atomic Mo incorporated & alpha;-Co(OH)2 mesoporous nanosheets decrease the overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction via strong electronic interaction. Consequently, the assembled aqueous ZABs exhibit ten-time fast-charging ability and remarkable cycling stability. Moreover, the assembled solid-state ZABs show unprecedented stability (1400 cycles at 5 mA cm-2) and high energy efficiency at -40 & DEG;C. The modulation of the solvation structure of Zn2+ ions by partial substitution of H2O with ethylene glycol, leads to a robust Zn|electrolyte interface. The aqueous Zn-air batteries (ZABs) with atomic Mo site catalyst exhibit ten-time fast-charging ability and the ZABs with polarized solid-state electrolyte show unprecedented stability (1400 cycles at 5 mA cm-2 and -40 & DEG;C) with high energy efficiency.image