Electrodeposited Zinc-Based Films as Anodes for Aqueous Zinc Batteries

Zinc-based batteries have attracted extensive attention in recent years, due to high safety, high capacities, environmental friendliness, and low cost compared to lithium-ion batteries. However, the zinc anode suffers primarily from dendrite formation as a mode of failure in the mildly acidic system. Herein, we report on electrochemically deposited zinc (ED Zn) and copper-zinc (brass) alloy anodes, which are critically compared with a standard commercial zinc foil. The film electrodes are of commercially relevant thicknesses (21 and 25 μM). The electrodeposited zinc-based anodes exhibit low electrode polarization (∼0.025 V) and stable cycling performance in 50 cycle consecutive experiments from 0.26 to 10 mA cm^-2 compared to commercial Zn foil. Coulombic efficiencies at 1 mA cm^-2 were over 98% for the electrodeposited zinc-based materials and were maintained for over 100 cycles. Furthermore, full cells with an electrodeposited Zn/brass anode, electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) cathode, in 1 M ZnSO₄ + 0.1 M MnSO₄ delivered capacities of 96.3 and 163 mAh g^-1, respectively, at 100 mA g^-1 compared to 92.1 mAh g^-1 for commercial Zn. The electrodeposited zinc-based anodes also show better rate capability, delivering full cell capacities of 35.9 and 47.5 mAh g^-1 at a high current of up to 3 A g^-1. Lastly, the electrodeposited zinc-based anodes show enhanced capacity for up to 100 cycles at 100 mA g^-1, making them viable anodes for commercial use.