Zincophilic Ti3C2Cl2 MXene and anti-corrosive Cu NPs for synergistically regulated deposition of dendrite-free Zn metal anode

Dendrites growth, chemical corrosion, and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on zinc anodes are the main barriers for the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). Constructing interfacial protective layer is an effective way to alleviate the side reactions on the anodes. Herein, Cu/Ti 3 C 2 Cl 2 MXene (CMX) with high zincophilic and hydrophobic property is prepared by the lewis molten salts etching method, and the CMX interface protection layer is constructed by a simple spin coating. The CMX coating layer can provide abundant nucleation sites and uniformize the charge distribution through the zincophilic Ti 3 C 2 Cl 2 MXene matrix, leading to homogenous Zn deposition. In addition, the hydrophobic coating contained anti-corrosive Cu nanoparticles can prevent the Zn anode from the electrolyte, beneficial for suppressing the chemical corrosion and HER. Therefore, the stable and reversible Zn plating/stripping is achieved for the Zn anode coated by the CMX, which exhibits the lifespan of over 1400 h at 0.5 mA cm −2 , and even can steadily run for 700 h with 65 mV at 10 mA cm −2 . Furthermore, CMX@Zn shows a high coulombic efficiency of over 100% for 3800 cycles, which indicates that the CMX@Zn electrode has excellent stability and reversibility of Zn stripping/plating. The full batteries assembled with ZnCoMnO/C (ZCM) cathodes also exhibits higher capacity (450.6 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 ) and cycle stability (capacity retention of 70% after 1500 cycles). This work enhanced the lifespan of AZIBs and broaden the research of multifunctional coating layer to other secondary batteries based on metal anodes.