TY - JOUR AU - Zhu, Meihua AU - Ran, Qing AU - Huang, Houhou AU - Xie, Yunfei AU - Zhong, Mengxiao AU - Lu, Geyu AU - Bai, Fu‑Quan AU - Lang, Xing‑You AU - Jia, Xiaoteng AU - Chao, Danming PY - 2022/11/10 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Interface Reversible Electric Field Regulated by Amphoteric Charged Protein-Based Coating Toward High-Rate and Robust Zn Anode JF - Nano-Micro Letters JA - Nano-Micro Lett VL - 14 IS - SE - Articles DO - 10.1007/s40820-022-00969-4 UR - https://nmlett.org/index.php/nml/article/view/1216 SP - 219 AB - <p>Metallic interface engineering is a promising strategy to stabilize Zn anode via promoting Zn<sup>2+</sup> uniform deposition. However, strong interactions between the coating and Zn<sup>2+</sup> and sluggish transport of Zn<sup>2+</sup> lead to high anodic polarization. Here, we present a bio-inspired silk fibroin (SF) coating with amphoteric charges to construct an interface reversible electric field, which manipulates the transfer kinetics of Zn<sup>2+</sup> and reduces anodic polarization. The alternating positively and negatively charged surface as a build-in driving force can expedite and homogenize Zn<sup>2+</sup> flux via the interplay between the charged coating and adsorbed ions, endowing the Zn-SF anode with low polarization voltage and stable plating/stripping. Experimental analyses with theoretical calculations suggest that SF can facilitate the desolvation of [Zn(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2+</sup> and provide nucleation sites for uniform deposition. Consequently, the Zn-SF anode delivers a high-rate performance with low voltage polarization (83&nbsp;mV at 20&nbsp;mA&nbsp;cm<sup>−2</sup>) and excellent stability (1500&nbsp;h at 1&nbsp;mA&nbsp;cm<sup>−2</sup>; 500&nbsp;h at 10&nbsp;mA&nbsp;cm<sup>−2</sup>), realizing exceptional cumulative capacity of 2.5 Ah cm<sup>−2</sup>. The full cell coupled with Zn<sub>x</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>·nH<sub>2</sub>O (ZnVO) cathode achieves specific energy of ~ 270.5/150.6 Wh kg<sup>−1</sup> (at 0.5/10 A g<sup>−1</sup>) with ~ 99.8% Coulombic efficiency and retains ~ 80.3% (at 5.0 A g<sup>−1</sup>) after 3000 cycles.</p><p>Highlights:</p><p>1 Alternating positively and negatively charged surface controlled by pH expedites and homogenizes Zn<sup>2+</sup> flux, endowing the Zn- silk fibroin (SF) anode with low polarization voltage and stable stripping/plating.<br>2 Experimental analyses with theoretical calculations suggest that SF coating facilitates the desolvation of [Zn(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>6</sub>]<sup>2+</sup> and provides nucleation sites for uniform deposition.<br>3 Symmetric battery of Zn–SF anodes delivers high-rate performance (up to 20 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>) and excellent stability (1500 h at 1 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>; 500 h at 10 mA cm<sup>−2</sup>) with cumulative capacity of 2.5 Ah cm<sup>−2</sup>.</p> ER -