Vanillin: An Effective Additive to Improve the Longevity of Zn Metal Anode in a 30 m ZnCl2 Electrolyte

Abstract It remains a challenge to design aqueous electrolytes to secure the complete reversibility of zinc metal anodes. The concentrated water‐in‐salt electrolytes, e.g., 30 m ZnCl 2 , are promising candidates to address the challenges of the Zn metal anode. However, the pure 30 m ZnCl 2 electrolyte fails to deliver a smooth surface morphology and a practically relevant Coulombic efficiency. Herein, it is reported that a small concentration of vanillin, 5 mg mL water −1 , added to 30 m ZnCl 2 transforms the reversibility of Zn metal anode by eliminating dendrites, lowering the Hammett acidity, and forming an effective solid electrolyte interphase. The presence of vanillin in the electrolyte enables the Zn metal anode to exhibit a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.34% at a low current density of 0.2 mA cm −2 , at which the impacts of the hydrogen evolution reaction are allowed to play out. Using this new electrolyte, a full cell Zn metal battery with an anode/cathode capacity (N/P) ratio of 2:1 demonstrates no capacity fading over 800 cycles.