Improved Interfacial Ion Migration and Deposition through the Chain‐Liquid Synergistic Effect by a Carboxylated Hydrogel Electrolyte for Stable Zinc Metal Anodes

Abstract

The large-scale applicability of Zn-metal anodes is severely impeded by the issues such as the dendrite growth, complicated hydrogen evolution, and uncontrollable passivation reaction. Herein, a negatively charged carboxylated double-network hydrogel electrolyte (Gelatin/Sodium alginate-acetate, denoted as Gel/SA-acetate) has been developed to stabilize the interfacial electrochemistry, which restructures a type of Zn²⁺ ion solvent sheath optimized via a chain-liquid synergistic effect. New hydrogen bonds are reconstructed with water molecules by the zincophilic functional groups, and directional migration of hydrated Zn²⁺ ions is therefore induced. Concomitantly, the robust chemical bonding of such hydrogel layers to the Zn slab exhibits a desirable anti-catalytic effect, thereby greatly diminishing the water activity and eliminating side reactions. Subsequently, a symmetric cell using the Gel/SA-acetate electrolyte demonstrates a reversible plating/stripping performance for 1580 h, and an asymmetric cell reaches a state-of-the-art runtime of 5600 h with a high average Coulombic efficiency of 99.9 %. The resultant zinc ion hybrid capacitors deliver exceptional properties including the capacity retention of 98.5 % over 15000 cycles, energy density of 236.8 Wh kg^-1 , and high mechanical adaptability. This work is expected to pave a new avenue for the development of novel hydrogel electrolytes towards safe and stable Zn anodes.