Nanoporous CaCO₃ Coatings Enabled Uniform Zn Stripping/Plating for Long‐Life Zinc Rechargeable Aqueous Batteries

Abstract

Abstract Zn‐based batteries are safe, low cost, and environmentally friendly, as well as delivering the highest energy density of all aqueous battery systems. However, the application of Zn‐based batteries is being seriously hindered by the uneven electrostripping/electroplating of Zn on the anodes, which always leads to enlarged polarization (capacity fading) or even cell shorting (low cycling stability). How a porous nano‐CaCO 3 coating can guide uniform and position‐selected Zn stripping/plating on the nano‐CaCO 3 ‐layer/Zn foil interfaces is reported here. This Zn‐deposition‐guiding ability is mainly ascribed to the porous nature of the nano‐CaCO 3 ‐layer, since similar functionality (even though relatively inferior) is also found in Zn foils coated with porous acetylene black or nano‐SiO 2 layers. Furthermore, the potential application of this strategy is demonstrated in Zn|ZnSO 4 +MnSO 4 |CNT/MnO 2 rechargeable aqueous batteries. Compared with the ones with bare Zn anodes, the battery with a nano‐CaCO 3 ‐coated Zn anode delivers a 42.7% higher discharge capacity (177 vs 124 mAh g −1 at 1 A g −1 ) after 1000 cycles.