Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to solving, at least to some extent, one of the technical problems in the related art. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a zinc ion battery, which can effectively solve the problems of easy dissolution of an active material of a positive electrode, easy hydrogen/oxygen evolution, a low voltage window, dendritic growth of a zinc negative electrode, and the like in the conventional zinc ion battery by using an organic electrolyte comprising a phosphate solvent and a salt containing zinc ions, so as to improve the specific capacity, the cycle performance, and the safety of the zinc ion battery.
In one aspect of the invention, a zinc ion battery is provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrolyte of the zinc ion battery includes a phosphate-based solvent and a salt containing zinc ions.
According to the zinc ion battery provided by the embodiment of the invention, the electrolyte comprising the phosphate solvent and the zinc ion salt is adopted, the zinc ion salt can be well dissolved in the phosphate solvent, and the electrolyte does not contain water, so that metal ions generated by the anode material in the discharging process are not dissolved in the electrolyte, thus the dissolution of the anode active substance can be effectively inhibited, the structure of the anode material is stabilized, and the capacity and the cycle performance of the zinc ion battery can be further improved; secondly, the active substance of the anode material is an oxidant, has catalytic performance, is easy to generate catalytic reaction when contacting with the aqueous electrolyte, separates out oxygen, and the cathode zinc is corroded by the aqueous electrolyte and is easy to separate out hydrogen, and the electrolyte can effectively avoid the battery capacity attenuation, swelling and even explosion caused by the gassing side reaction in the electrolyte, and is beneficial to maintaining the stability of a battery system; in addition, the electrolyte has higher decomposition voltage compared with an aqueous electrolyte, the voltage window of the battery is expanded, and the overcharge resistance of the battery is improved; in addition, the electrolyte and the zinc cathode interface have high stability, can guide the uniform deposition of zinc, prevent the formation and growth of dendrites, and improve the safety and the cycle life of the battery. Therefore, the electrolyte can effectively solve the problems of easy dissolution of positive active substances, easy hydrogen/oxygen evolution, low voltage window, dendritic growth of zinc negative electrodes and the like in the conventional zinc ion battery, so that the specific capacity, the cycle performance and the safety of the zinc ion battery can be improved.
In addition, the zinc-ion battery according to the above embodiment of the invention may also have the following additional technical features:
in some embodiments of the present invention, the phosphate-based solvent includes at least one of trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate or a mixture of at least one of trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate and at least one of ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, glycerol, dimethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate, and propylene carbonate. Thus, the salt containing zinc ions can be well dissolved in the phosphate-based solvent.
In some embodiments of the invention, the salt comprising a zinc ion comprises at least one of zinc tetrafluoroborate, zinc perchlorate, zinc methanesulfonate, zinc sulfate, zinc nitrate, zinc oxalate, zinc benzenesulfonate, zinc p-toluenesulfonate, and zinc isooctoate. Thereby, zinc ions can be supplied to the battery.
In some embodiments of the invention, the concentration of zinc ions in the electrolyte is 0.5-5 mol/L. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of the zinc ion battery is better.
In some embodiments of the invention, the salt comprising zinc ions further comprises a second ion, wherein the second ion comprises at least one of a sodium ion, a manganese ion, a potassium ion, a lithium ion, and a magnesium ion. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of the zinc ion battery is better.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the concentration of the second ion in the electrolyte is 0.1-1 mol/L. Therefore, the electrochemical performance of the zinc ion battery is better.
In some embodiments of the invention, the positive electrode of the zinc-ion battery comprises at least one of a manganese-based material and a vanadium-based material.
In some embodiments of the invention, the positive electrode comprises LiMn2O4、MnO2、Mn2O3MnO and V2O5At least one of (a).
In some embodiments of the invention, the negative electrode of the zinc-ion battery comprises at least one of metallic zinc and a zinc-containing compound. Therefore, the metal zinc and the zinc-containing compound have rich sources, low cost, low toxicity, good conductivity, low equilibrium potential and high hydrogen overpotential.
In some embodiments of the invention, the separator of the zinc-ion battery comprises at least one of an AGM glass fiber membrane, a sulfonated separator, a PP membrane and a PE membrane.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative and intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention.
In one aspect of the invention, a zinc ion battery is provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrolyte of the zinc ion battery includes a phosphate-based solvent and a salt containing zinc ions.
The inventor finds that by adopting the electrolyte comprising the phosphate solvent and the zinc ion-containing salt, the zinc ion-containing salt can be well dissolved in the phosphate solvent, and because the electrolyte contains no water, metal ions generated in the discharge process of the positive electrode material are not dissolved in the electrolyte, so that the dissolution of positive electrode active substances can be effectively inhibited, the structure of the positive electrode material is stabilized, and the capacity and the cycle performance of the zinc ion battery can be improved; secondly, the active substance of the anode material is an oxidant, has catalytic performance, is easy to generate catalytic reaction when contacting with the aqueous electrolyte, separates out oxygen, and the cathode zinc is corroded by the aqueous electrolyte and is easy to separate out hydrogen, and the electrolyte can effectively avoid the battery capacity attenuation, bulging and even explosion caused by the gassing side reaction in the electrolyte, thereby being beneficial to the stability of a battery system; in addition, the electrolyte has higher decomposition voltage compared with an aqueous electrolyte, the voltage window of the battery is expanded, and the overcharge resistance of the battery is improved; in addition, the electrolyte and the zinc cathode interface have high stability, can guide the uniform deposition of zinc, prevent the formation and growth of dendrites, and improve the safety and the cycle life of the battery.
It should be noted that, a specific type of the phosphate-based solvent may be selected by those skilled in the art according to actual needs, for example, the phosphate-based solvent includes at least one of trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate or a mixture of at least one of trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate and at least one of ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, glycerol, dimethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate. The inventor finds that compared with other organic solvents, trimethyl phosphate and triethyl phosphate have flame retardant performance, the danger of combustion and even explosion is avoided, and the safety is guaranteed, and the addition of ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, glycerol dimethyl carbonate, ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate can improve the ion conduction rate of the phosphate solvents, improve the rate capability of the battery, have an induction effect on the transmission of metal cations, and further improve the stability of the electrolyte and the interface between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. Meanwhile, the specific type of the salt containing zinc ions may be selected by those skilled in the art according to actual needs, for example, the salt containing zinc ions includes at least one of zinc tetrafluoroborate, zinc perchlorate, zinc methanesulfonate, zinc sulfate, zinc nitrate, zinc oxalate, zinc benzenesulfonate, zinc p-toluenesulfonate, and zinc isooctanoate.
Further, the concentration of zinc ions in the electrolyte is 0.5 to 5mol/L, specifically, 0.5mol/L, 1mol/L, 1.5mol/L, 2mol/L, 2.5mol/L, 3mol/L, 3.5mol/L, 4mol/L, 4.5mol/L, or 5 mol/L. The inventor finds that if the concentration of zinc ions in the electrolyte is too low, the battery capacity is not exerted; and if the concentration of zinc ions in the electrolyte is too high, the cycle performance of the battery is not facilitated. Therefore, by adopting the zinc ion concentration, the zinc ion battery has better specific capacity and cycle performance.
In addition, the above salt containing a zinc ion further includes a second ion, wherein the second ion includes at least one of a sodium ion, a manganese ion, a potassium ion, a lithium ion, and a magnesium ion. The inventors have found that the cycle performance and rate performance of the battery are improved by adding the above second ion. The reason is that firstly, the addition of the second ions has a synergistic effect with zinc ions, so that the transmission rate of metal cations is improved; and secondly, a part of second ions are embedded into the anode material, so that the crystal structure of the material is supported, the structural stability of the anode material during ion embedding/extraction is facilitated, and the cycle performance of the battery is improved.
Further, the concentration of the second ions in the electrolyte is 0.1-1 mol/L. The inventor finds that if the concentration of the second ions in the electrolyte is too low, the synergistic effect with zinc ions is not obvious, and the structural support effect on the anode material is not obvious, so that the rate capability and the cycle performance of the battery are not obviously improved; if the concentration of the second ions in the electrolyte is too high, the activity of the zinc ions is affected, and the excessive second ions tend to deposit on the surface of the positive pole piece, so that the embedding/extracting process of the zinc ions is affected. Therefore, the second ions with the concentration can improve the rate performance and the cycle performance of the battery and avoid the influence on the activity of the zinc ions.
It should be noted that, the specific types of the positive electrode, the negative electrode and the separator of the zinc ion battery can be selected by those skilled in the art according to actual needs, for example, the positive electrode includes at least one of a manganese-based material and a vanadium-based material, and specifically, the positive electrode includes LiMn2O4、MnO2、Mn2O3MnO and V2O5At least one of; the negative electrode includes at least one of metallic zinc and a zinc-containing compound; the separator includes at least one of an AGM glass fiber film, a sulfonated separator, a PP film and a PE film.
The inventor finds that by adopting the electrolyte comprising the phosphate solvent and the zinc ion-containing salt, the zinc ion-containing salt can be well dissolved in the phosphate solvent, and because the electrolyte contains no water, metal ions generated in the discharge process of the positive electrode material are not dissolved in the electrolyte, so that the dissolution of positive electrode active substances can be effectively inhibited, the structure of the positive electrode material is stabilized, and the capacity and the cycle performance of the zinc ion battery can be improved; secondly, the active substance of the anode material is an oxidant, has catalytic performance, is easy to generate catalytic reaction when contacting with the aqueous electrolyte, separates out oxygen, and the cathode zinc is corroded by the aqueous electrolyte and is easy to separate out hydrogen, and the electrolyte can effectively avoid the battery capacity attenuation, bulging and even explosion caused by the gassing side reaction in the electrolyte, thereby being beneficial to the stability of a battery system; in addition, the electrolyte has higher decomposition voltage compared with an aqueous electrolyte, the voltage window of the battery is expanded, and the overcharge resistance of the battery is improved; in addition, the electrolyte and the zinc cathode interface have high stability, can guide the uniform deposition of zinc, prevent the formation and growth of dendrites, and improve the safety and the cycle life of the battery. In conclusion, the electrolyte can effectively solve the problems that the active substance of the positive electrode in the existing zinc ion battery is easy to dissolve out, hydrogen/oxygen is easy to separate out, the voltage window is low, the dendritic crystal of the zinc negative electrode grows and the like, so that the specific capacity, the cycle performance and the safety of the zinc ion battery can be improved.
The following embodiments of the present invention are described in detail, and it should be noted that the following embodiments are exemplary only, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. In addition, all reagents used in the following examples are commercially available or can be synthesized according to methods herein or known, and are readily available to those skilled in the art for reaction conditions not listed, if not explicitly stated.
Example 1
Assembling the battery: MnO was used in this experiment2The anode is made of zinc foil, the cathode is made of zinc foil, and the diaphragm is an AGM diaphragm. Electrolyte solution: trimethyl phosphate (TMP) as solvent, zinc tetrafluoroborate as zinc salt, Zn dissolved in TMP2+The concentration is 1.2 mol/L;
and (3) testing the battery: in an environment of 25 ℃, the battery is discharged firstly under the current density of 50mA/g and the voltage range of 0.8-1.9V, the initial specific capacity is 215.4mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 212.6mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.7% (as shown in figure 1). The battery is amplified to a 5Ah capacity level, and the gas production condition of the battery is detected by adopting a drainage method: no gas was collected. The shape of the anode after 20 cycles is shown in figure 2a, and MnO can be seen2The spherical structure is stable, and the structure collapse does not occur.
Example 2
The procedure of example 1 was repeated except that trimethyl phosphate (TMP) was replaced with triethyl phosphate (TEP).
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 214.3mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 211.7mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.8%.
Example 3
The procedure of example 1 was repeated except that trimethyl phosphate (TMP) was replaced with a mixed solution of trimethyl phosphate and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) (mass ratio TMP: DMC 4: 1).
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial capacity is 217.1mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 216.2mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 99.6%.
Example 4
The procedure is as in example 1 except that zinc tetrafluoroborate is replaced by zinc perchlorate.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 210.9mAh/g, the capacity is kept at 208.7mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 99.0%. Fig. 3a is an SEM of the cathode after 20 cycles, which shows that the surface of the cathode is still relatively flat after 20 cycles.
Example 5
The anode material is made of MnO2Change to LiMn2O4The test temperature is 45 ℃ high-temperature environment. The rest is the same as example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 110.6mAh/g, and the capacity is kept to be 93.2% after 150 circles.
Example 6
The anode material is made of MnO2Is changed to V2O5Otherwise, the same procedure as in example 1 was repeated.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 236mAh/g, the capacity is maintained to be 228.7mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 96.9%.
Example 7
The electrolyte Zn2+The concentration was changed from 1.2mol/L to 0.6mol/L, and the same was applied to example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 209.3mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 198.2mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 94.7%.
Example 8
The electrolyte Zn2+The concentration was changed from 1.2mol/L to 2.5mol/L, and the procedure was otherwise the same as in example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 221.0mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 200.9mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 90.9%.
Example 9
The electrolyte further includes sodium ions with a concentration of 0.1mol/L, and the other steps are the same as those of example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 215.8mAh/g, the capacity is maintained to be 212.9mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.7%.
Example 10
The electrolyte further includes manganese ions, the concentration of the manganese ions is 0.3mol/L, and the other steps are the same as those of the embodiment 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 216.1mAh/g, the capacity is maintained to be 213.0mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.6%.
Example 11
The electrolyte further contained potassium ions, the concentration of potassium ions was 0.6mol/L, and the other steps were the same as in example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 215.6mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 212.1mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.4%.
Example 12
The electrolyte solution further included lithium ions, the concentration of which was 0.8mol/L, and the other steps were the same as in example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 214.8mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 211.5mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.5%.
Example 13
The electrolyte further included magnesium ions at a concentration of 1mol/L, as in example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 214.5mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 211.1mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 98.4%.
Comparative example 1
The electrolyte is replaced by a water system electrolyte (Zn) commonly used in the prior art2+1.2mol/L aqueous zinc sulfate solution), otherwise the same as in example 1.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity of the battery under the current density of 50mA/g is 208.8mAh/g, the capacity is kept to be 191.8mAh/g after 20 circles, and the capacity retention rate is 91.9 percent (shown in figure 1).
The battery is amplified to 5Ah capacity level, and the gas production condition of the battery is detected by adopting a drainage method: 0.12mL/Ah/h, and obvious gassing phenomenon exists.
Reason why comparative example 1 is inferior in electrical properties to example 1: first, MnO accompanying the charging and discharging process2Part of Mn in (1)2+Will dissolve in waterIn the process, the structure of the positive active material is collapsed, and the electrical property is influenced; secondly, gassing causes side reactions. MnO in TMP etc. organic electrolyte2Mn in (1)2+Can not be dissolved in the electrolyte, and has stable appearance. The shape of the anode after 20 cycles is shown in figure 2b, and MnO can be seen2The structural collapse was evident.
Comparative example 2
Changing the solvent from TMP to H2O, otherwise the same as example 4.
The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 210.5mAh/g, the capacity is maintained to be 207.2mAh/g after 20 circles, the capacity retention rate is 98.4%, but the dendritic phenomenon of the negative electrode is more prominent, and the negative electrode copper material current collector is corroded. It is predicted that dendrites will puncture the separator after long cycles leading to cell shorting or cell failure due to current collector corrosion. Fig. 3b is an SEM image of the anode after 20 cycles, and it can be seen that there is zinc dendrite stacking on the surface of the anode after 20 cycles.
Comparative example 3
The anode material is made of MnO2Change to LiMn2O4The test temperature is 45 ℃ high-temperature environment. The rest is the same as in comparative example 1. The electrical properties are shown as: the initial specific capacity is 110.3mAh/g, and the capacity is kept to be 83.5 percent after 150 circles.
In the description herein, references to the description of the term "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., mean that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above are not necessarily intended to refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples. Furthermore, various embodiments or examples and features of different embodiments or examples described in this specification can be combined and combined by one skilled in the art without contradiction.
Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and that variations, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to the above embodiments by those of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the present invention.