Chuyuan Lin, Hui Lin, Lingxing Zeng⁎
Chin. J. Struct. Chem., 2025, 44(1), 100407. DOI: 10.1016/j.cjsc.2024.100407
January 1, 2025
ABSTRACT
In conclusion, the electrochemical stability of Zn metal anodes in wide-pH electrolytes can be enhanced by the strategy of electrolyte engineering and electrode design. On the one hand, the optimization mechanism of electrolyte engineering can be considered as the manipulation of the chemical environment at the electrode/electrolyte interface. In particular, the amphipathic organics-based EDL and fluorinated polymer interphase can mitigate the wide range of pH and act as a protective layer, thus ensuring the highly reversible redox conversion of Zn anodes. On the other hand, the main guideline of electrode design consists in the growth of the zincophilic and hydrogen-inert sites, intending to successfully address the suboptimal utilization rate of the Zn metal over a wide pH range. Although the above electrolyte additives and electrode alloying strategies have shown significant results in improving the reversibility of deposition/stripping of Zn anode in wide pH aqueous electrolytes, however, there is still a lack of suitable modification strategies for the development of AZMBs with ultra-high energy densities, as well as a shortage of synergistic optimization of the cathode materials for wide pH aqueous electrolytes. In short, this work expounds on the optimization strategy of zinc-electrolytes and zinc-electrodes compatible with a wide range of pH, which might be an inspiration in the fields of practical Zn anodes for the state-of-art AZMBs.