Aqueous Zinc Metal Batteries with Anode Stabilized by Plasma Treatment

Aqueous Zn batteries have recently attracted significant attention due to the various benefits offered by Zn metal anodes. However, the formation of dendrites and unwanted side reactions between the Zn anode and the aqueous electrolyte remain challenging problems. Herein, a straightforward plasma treatment that converts the surface of the Zn metal into ZnF2 is proposed. Calculations using density function theory reveal that the diffusion energy barrier for Zn atoms on the ZnF2 surface (0.02 eV) is considerably lower than that on the regular Zn surface (0.25 eV). As a result, the Zn anode treated with plasma (referred to as Plasma-Zn) exhibits a highly reversible Zn plating/stripping process and significantly suppresses dendrite formation for more than 1300 h. Furthermore, when combined with polyaniline (PANi)-intercalated V2O5 in a full cell configuration (Plasma-Zn//PANi-intercalated V2O5), it demonstrates enhanced rate capability, delivering a discharge capacity of 258 mAh g-1 at 2000 mA g-1, along with improved long-term stability, retaining 72% of its capacity after 1000 cycles at 1000 mA g-1. A simple yet efficient plasma surface treatment process is developed for dendrite-suppressed Zn deposition. The as-formed surface ZnF2 layer can significantly decrease the Zn self-diffusion energy barrier by more than 10 times (0.02 vs 0.25 eV). As a result, the Zn-based full cells exhibit greatly improved electrochemical performance.image (c) 2024 WILEY-VCH GmbH