Structural and Interfacial Engineering of Ti3C2Tx Reinforced Polyacrylamide-Polyvinyl Alcohol Double-Network Hydrogel Electrolyte for Long-Durable Flexible Zinc-Ion Batteries

초록

Hydrogel electrolytes hold a prominent interest in large-scale Zn-based energy storage systems due to their inherent safety, low cost, and stable cycling performance. However, achieving simultaneous regulation of electrolyte structure and interface stabilization for uniform Zn2+ deposition, dendrite suppression, and long-term cycling stability remains an optimal challenge. Herein, the current study emphasizes the advancement of 2D-Ti3C2Tx (Ti-MXene) incorporated polyacrylamide (PAM)-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) double network (DN)-based composite hydrogel electrolytes (CHGEs) for flexible zinc-ion batteries (FZIBs). As a result, the developed PAM-PVA/Ti-MXene (0.1 wt.%) displays excellent mechanical strength of 3.6 MPa and ionic conductivity of 22.9 mS cm-1. In addition, the Zn//Zn symmetrical cell also exhibits a stable stripping/plating of 1000 h at 0.1 mA cm-2 as well as exceptional reversibility behavior of Zn//Cu assymetric cell with average coulombic efficiency of 99.4% for over 500 cycles. Furthermore, the fabricated Zn//V2O5 battery exhibits a high discharge capacity of 178 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and excellent capacity retention of 84% for 500 cycles with a coulombic efficiency of 100%. Overall, the present investigation of DN-based CHGEs will provide new insights into a stable, dendrite-free Zn anode, enabling high-performance flexible devices and beyond.

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