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Decoupling electrolytes towards stable and high-energy rechargeable aqueous zinc–manganese dioxide batteries

Nature Energy volume 5, pages 440–449 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Aqueous battery systems feature high safety, but they usually suffer from low voltage and low energy density, restricting their applications in large-scale storage. Here, we propose an electrolyte-decoupling strategy to maximize the full potential of Zn–MnO2 batteries by simultaneously enabling the optimal redox chemistry of both the Zn and MnO2 electrodes. The decoupled Zn–MnO2 battery exhibits an open-circuit voltage of 2.83 V (in contrast to the typical voltage of 1.5 V in conventional Zn–MnO2 batteries), as well as cyclability with only 2% capacity fading after deep cycling for 200 h. Benefiting from the full utilization of MnO2, the Zn–MnO2 battery is also able to maintain approximately 100% of its capacity at various discharge current densities. We also demonstrate the feasibility of integrating the Zn–MnO2 battery with a wind and photovoltaic hybrid power generating system. This electrolyte-decoupling strategy is shown to be applicable for other high-performance zinc-based aqueous batteries such as Zn–Cu and Zn–Ag batteries.

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Fig. 1: Working mechanisms of our Zn–MnO2 battery.
Fig. 2: Electrochemical performance of the DZMB.
Fig. 3: Structural characterization of the MnO2 electrode in the DZMB.
Fig. 4: Phase and surface chemistry characterization of the MnO2 electrode in the DZMB.
Fig. 5: In situ characterization of the MnO2 electrode during cycling and the working mechanism of the battery.
Fig. 6: Scale up of the DZMB and its practical application.

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The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files.

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Acknowledgements

C.Z. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars (no. 51722403), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 51771134), the National Youth Talent Support Program and Tianjin Natural Science Foundation (no. 18JCJQJC46500). This work was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Guangdong Province (no. U1601216).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Cheng Zhong, Bin Liu, Jia Ding, Xiaorui Liu, Yuwei Zhong, Yuan Li, Changbin Sun, Xiaopeng Han, Yida Deng, Naiqin Zhao & Wenbin Hu

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Contributions

C.Z. conceived the idea. C.Z. and B.L. designed the experiments. C.Z. and B.L. performed the experiments and analysed the results. B.L. and N.Z. performed the calculations. X.L. and Y.L. performed the SEM and EDX measurements. Y.Z. performed the PXRD measurements. Y.Z., C.S. and B.L. prepared the figures. C.Z. wrote and revised the draft. J.D., X.H. and Y.D. checked the calculations. W.H. and C.Z. supervised the overall research. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cheng Zhong or Wenbin Hu.

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Competing interests

A PCT patent associated with the work (patent number: PCT/CN2019/074801; patent name: high voltage rechargeable Zn-MnO2 battery) was filed in February 2019.

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Supplementary Figs. 1‒19, Tables 1 and 2, and refs. 1–67.

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Zhong, C., Liu, B., Ding, J. et al. Decoupling electrolytes towards stable and high-energy rechargeable aqueous zinc–manganese dioxide batteries. Nat Energy 5, 440–449 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0584-y

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