Bi-functional inhibitors of zinc corrosion and dendrite formation in aqueous electrolyte: Insights from experiments and theoretical calculations

An organic compound 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium phosphate dibutyl ester salt (BD) is studied for the first time to effectively inhibit zinc corrosion and the formation of zinc dendrites. Through SEM, AFM, XPS, FTIR, XRD, theoretical calculation, and electrochemical corrosion measurements, the inhibition mechanism of BD on zinc is investigated in 2 M ZnSO4. The maximum anti-corrosion efficiency is over 91% in 2.5 mM BD. Besides, BD can also inhibit the formation of zinc dendrites during galvanostatic cycling tests. The corrosion inhibitor BD endows the symmetric zinc-ion battery with a service life of 1000 h at 8 mA cm−2 for 5 mAh cm−2.