Preferred Orientation Deposition via Multifunctional Gel Electrolyte with Molecular Anchor Enabling Highly Reversible Zn Anode

The high activity of water molecules results in a series of awful parasitic reaction, which seriously impede the development of aqueous zinc batteries. Herein, a new gel electrolyte with multiple molecular anchors is designed by employing natural biomaterials from chitosan and chlorophyll derivative. The gel electrolyte firmly anchors water molecules by ternary hydrogen bonding to reduce the activity of water molecules and inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction. Meanwhile, the multipolar charged functional groups realize the gradient induction and redistribution of Zn2+, which drives oriented Zn (002) plane deposition of Zn2+ and then achieves uniform Zn deposition and dendrite-free anode. As a result, it endows the Zn||Zn cell with over 1700 h stripping/plating processes and a high efficiency of 99.4% for the Zn||Cu cell. In addition, the Zn||V2O5 full cells also exhibit capacity retention of 81.7% after 600 cycles at 0.5 A g-1 and excellent long-term stability over 1600 cycles at 2 A g-1, and the flexible pouch cells can provide stable power for light-emitting diodes even after repeated bending. The gel electrolyte strategy provides a reference for reversible zinc anode and flexible wearable devices. A gel electrolyte with molecular anchors is synthesized. It reduces the activity of H2O by anchoring them through ternary hydrogen bonds, which effectively inhibits hydrogen evolution reaction. Furthermore, multiple charged groups of the gel electrolyte induce the deposition of Zn2+ in an orderly manner and promote the directional deposition of Zn2+ on the Zn (002) plane, obtaining a highly reversible dendrite-free anode.image