An in-situ SbF3/Zn3Sb2 protective layer for dendrite-free zinc metal anode

Zinc-ion batteries are considered as one of the most promising electrochemical energy storage devices in the field of electrochemical energy storage due to their low cost and high safety. However, the development of zinc ion batteries using metal zinc anodes is limited by the existence of hydrogen evolution, dendrite growth, serious side reactions, low coulomb efficiency and poor cycling performance. In this work, an ultrathin ZnF2/Zn3Sb2 hybrid interfacial layer is constructed by spraying commercial Zn metal with SbF3 as the precursor. Due to the high Zn ionic conductivity of ZnF2 and Zn3Sb2, this interfacial layer can effectively enhance the uniform deposition of Zn ions and improve the stability of the solid electrolyte/anode interface. A low current density of 1 mA cm-2 and a high current density of 1 mA cm-2 can be obtained by assembling symmetric batteries with Zn@SbF3 as the anode for more than 500 h. In addition, the CuSCoS//Zn@SbF3 full battery maintains a CE rate of up to 99.2% after 1000 cycles at a current density of 2 A g-1. These results indicate that the modified Zn anode holds a large potential for Zinc-ion batteries applications.