Inhibiting corrosion and side reactions of zinc metal anode by nano-CaSiO3 coating towards high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries

The aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) have been deemed as one of the most promising energy storage devices owing to their high safety, low cost, and environmental benignity. Nevertheless, the severe corrosion of zinc metal anode and side reactions between the anode and electrolyte greatly hinder the practical application of AZIBs. To address above-mentioned issues, herein, a nano-CaSiO3 layer was coated on the surface of Zn metal anode via the solution casting method. Results showed that this hydrophobic coating layer could effectively inhibit the direct contact of Zn metal anode with electrolyte, suppressing its corrosion and side reactions during Zn deposition/stripping. When applied in symmetrical cells, the nano-CaSiO3 coated Zn (CSO-Zn) electrode exhibited much longer cycle life than bare Zn electrode. Moreover, with this nano-CaSiO3 modified Zn anode, both vanadium-based and manganese-based full cells depicted excellent capacity retention. This nano-CaSiO3 coating layer provides a good choice for improving the stability of Zn metal anode for high-performance AZIBs.