Suppressing Dendrite Growth and Side Reactions via Mechanically Robust Laponite-Based Electrolyte Membranes for Ultrastable Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries.

The development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) faces significant challenges because of water-induced side reactions arising from the high water activity in aqueous electrolytes. Herein, a quasi-solid-state electrolyte membrane with low water activity is designed based on a laponite (LP) nanoclay for separator-free AZIBs. The mechanically robust LP-based membrane can perform simultaneously as a separator and a quasi-solid-state electrolyte to inhibit dendrite growth and water-induced side reactions at the Zn/electrolyte interface. A combination of density functional theory calculations, theoretical analyses, and experiments ascertains that the water activities associated with self-dissociation, byproduct formation, and electrochemical decomposition could be substantially suppressed when the water molecules are absorbed by LP. This could be attributed to the high water adsorption and hydration capabilities of LP nanocrystals, resulting from the strong Coulombic and hydrogen-binding interactions between water and LP. Most importantly, the separator-free AZIBs exhibit high capacity retention rates of 94.10% after 2,000 cycles at 1 A/g and 86.32% after 10,000 cycles at 3 A/g, along with enhanced durability and record-low voltage decay rates over a 60-day storage period. This work provides a fundamental understanding of water activity and demonstrates that LP nanoclay is promising for ultrastable separator-free AZIBs for practical energy storage applications.

Two-Dimensional Hexagonal-Shaped Mesoporous Carbon Sheets for Supercapacitors.

Two-dimensional mesoporous hexagonal carbon sheets (MHCSs) have been prepared via a chemical vapor deposition method employing mesoporous Mg(OH)2 hexagonal sheets as the template and acetylene gas as the carbon precursor. MHCSs with porosity in the micropore-mesopore range have a high specific surface area of 1785 m2·g-1. The hierarchical microporous-mesoporous pore structure enables rapid ion transport across the hexagonal carbon sheets, resulting in superior electrochemical performance. The MHCS electrodes showed a maximum specific capacitance of 162 F·g-1 at 5 mV s-1 using the electrolyte 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMIM-TFSI). MHCS symmetric coin cells exhibited a maximum energy density of 67 Wh·kg-1 at 0.5 A·g-1 and a maximum power density of 14.97 kW·kg-1 at 10 A·g-1.

3D coral-like nitrogen-sulfur co-doped carbon-sulfur composite for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

3D coral-like, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped mesoporous carbon has been synthesized by a facile hydrothermal-nanocasting method to house sulfur for Li-S batteries. The primary doped species (pyridinic-N, pyrrolic-N, thiophenic-S and sulfonic-S) enable this carbon matrix to suppress the diffusion of polysulfides, while the interconnected mesoporous carbon network is favourable for rapid transport of both electrons and lithium ions. Based on the synergistic effect of N, S co-doping and the mesoporous conductive pathway, the as-fabricated C/S cathodes yield excellent cycling stability at a current rate of 4 C (1 C = 1675 mA g(-1)) with only 0.085% capacity decay per cycle for over 250 cycles and ultra-high rate capability (693 mAh g(-1) at 10 C rate). These capabilities have rarely been reported before for Li-S batteries.