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Direct 3D printing of stress-released Zn powder anodes toward flexible dendrite-free Zn batteries

2022; Elsevier BV; Volume: 54; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.ensm.2022.10.061

2405-8297

Li Zeng, Jun He, Chenyu Yang, Dan Luo, Huaibo Yu, Hanna He, Chuhong Zhang,

Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication

The notorious dendrite growth and poor deformation endurance of Zn metal anode impede the on-going rapid development of flexible Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs). Herein, a direct 3D printing approach architecting a novel Ag-anchored hierarchical porous flexible Zn anode (3DP-ZA) is for the first time proposed for flexible dendrite-free ZIBs. The 3DP-ZA anode demonstrates excellent inherent mechanical flexibility and structural stability: (1) the interaction between the components in the formulated ink (CNT, graphene and cellulose) drives an assembly of a robust intertwined flexible network where Zn powder is homogeneously embedded; (2) the 3D-printing customized macro holes guarantee sufficient buffer space for stress relief to accommodate volume change and maintain structural integrity upon plating/striping. Moreover, the introduced zincophilic Ag source and hierarchical porous structure of the anode endow uniform electronic/ionic fluxes and homogeneous Zn growth. Consequently, the 3DP-ZA//3DP-ZA symmetrical cell delivers a superior lifespan of over 330 h at 1 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2 with a low voltage hysteresis of 35 mV. Furthermore, a flexible full cell adopting 3DP-ZA anode and PANI coated carbon cloth (PANI@CC) cathode exhibits stable electrochemical performance under continuous deformation. This work points to a new mindset that elaborate 3D structural electrode design for high-performance flexible Zn batteries could be readily realized by 3D printing, which caters to a broad range of flexible energy storage applications.