Synergistic effect of surfactant and 1,10-decanedithiol as corrosion inhibitor for zinc anode in alkaline electrolyte of zinc-air batteries

The self-discharge by corrosion of zinc-air batteries (ZABs) will result in the reduced coulombic efficiency and lower energy efficiency. The additives in electrolyte should not only inhibit the occurrence of self-corrosion during battery dormancy, but also achieve a stable cycle of adsorption–desorption during battery operation, improving the durability of discharge cycles. But the former requires strong binding between additives and zinc to form a dense protective film, while the latter requires easy desorption of additives and zinc without affecting discharge power, which is contradictory to balance. In this study, a dynamic combination of additives and zinc, as well as a design of multi-channel strategy for the corresponding protective layer, have been proposed to solve the issues of self-corrosion and discharge cycle stability. Specifically, the surfactant (octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether phosphate (OP-10P)) and 1,10-decanedithiol (DD) have been selected as the combined anti-corrosion additives in ZABs with concentrated alkaline solution. The synergistic inhibition mechanism and the stabilization mechanism in zinc-air full cells have been studied systematically. The results indicated that the combined inhibitors inhibited the self-corrosion of Zn efficiently in the dormancy, and the inhibition efficiency reached 99.9 % at the optimized proportion. OP-10P achieve the preferential adsorption on the zinc surface, and then the chelates of DD with Zn2+ deposit on the outer layer to form the protective film with fine hydrophobic performance. The stability of ZABs in discharge and charging cycles has been improved owing to the multilayer adsorption film on zinc surface, which retains ion transport channels with the homogeneously pores to weaken the dendrites and side reactions during galvanostatic cycles. A probable model on zinc surface was established to discuss the actual working mechanism.