Lamella-nanostructured eutectic zinc–aluminum alloys as reversible and dendrite-free anodes for aqueous rechargeable batteries

Abstract Metallic zinc is an attractive anode material for aqueous rechargeable batteries because of its high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, state-of-the-art zinc anodes suffer from low coulombic efficiency and severe dendrite growth during stripping/plating processes, hampering their practical applications. Here we show that eutectic-composition alloying of zinc and aluminum as an effective strategy substantially tackles these irreversibility issues by making use of their lamellar structure, composed of alternating zinc and aluminum nanolamellas. The lamellar nanostructure not only promotes zinc stripping from precursor eutectic Zn 88 Al 12 (at%) alloys, but produces core/shell aluminum/aluminum…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 51631004, 2017TD-09, 51871107, No. 51871107
• PG
  People's Government of Jilin Province
• CS
  Changjiang Scholar Program of Chinese Ministry of Education

  Award: Q2016064
• FR
  Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

  Award: 2017TD-09
• PF
  Program for Jilin University Science and Technology Innovative Research Team

  Awards: 2017TD-09, JLUSTIRT, 2017TD-09