Preparation of Flower-Like Zn-Al Layered Double Hydroxides as Anode Materials with Improved Electrochemical Performance

Abstract In this account, a facile approach for preparation of 3D self-assembled flower-like Zn-Al layered double hydroxides (Zn-Al LDHs) through a one-step hydrothermal method is demonstrated, and the resulting material is successfully utilized as negative electrodes of next-generation Zn secondary batteries. The flower-like Zn-Al LDHs possess larger specific surface area and better ion diffusion channel. Due to the unique flower-like nanostructure, the resulting flower-like Zn-Al LDHs exhibit higher charging efficiency and better cycle performance. This is concluded from the combined data of serial electrochemical tests based on galvanostatic charge-discharge tests and cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests. The galvanostatic charge-discharge tests reveals that flower-like Zn-Al LDHs maintained 95.7% of the initial specific capacity after 600 cycles.