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Miao et al. Energy Mater 2023;3:300014 Energy Materials
DOI: 10.20517/energymater.2022.89

Review Open Access

Insights into the design of mildly acidic aqueous

electrolytes for improved stability of Zn anode
performance in zinc-ion batteries

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Licheng Miao , Zaiping Guo , Lifang Jiao 1, *
1
Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage
Center (RECAST), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
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School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5055, Australia.
* Correspondence to: Prof. Lifang Jiao, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education),
Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, No. 94 Weijin Road,
Tianjin 300071, China. E-mail: jiaolf@nankai.edu.cn
How to cite this article: Miao L, Guo Z, Jiao L. Insights into the design of mildly acidic aqueous electrolytes for improved stability
of Zn anode performance in zinc-ion batteries. Energy Mater 2023;3:300014. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/energymater.2022.89
Received: 2 Dec 2022 First Decision: 28 Jan 2023 Revised: 11 Feb 2023 Accepted: 27 Feb 2023 Published: 4 Apr 2023

Academic Editors: Elie Paillard, Yuping Wu Copy Editor: Fangling Lan Production Editor: Fangling Lan

Abstract
Mildly acidic aqueous zinc (Zn) batteries are promising for large-energy storage but suffer from the irreversibility
of Zn metal anodes due to parasitic H evolution, Zn corrosion, and dendrite growth. In recent years, increasing
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efforts have been devoted to overcoming these obstacles by regulating electrolyte structures. In this review, we
investigate progress towards mildly acidic aqueous electrolytes for Zn batteries, with special emphasis on how the
microstructures (in the bulk phase and on the surface of Zn anodes) affect the performance of Zn anodes.
Moreover, effective computational simulations and characterization measurements for the structures of bulk
electrolytes and Zn/electrolyte interfaces are discussed, along with perspectives for the direction of further
investigations.

Keywords: Mildly acidic aqueous electrolytes, Zn metal anodes, electrolyte design, Zn/electrolyte interfaces, Zn
plating/striping processes

INTRODUCTION
Zinc (Zn) batteries have been regarded as one of the advanced large-energy storage systems owing to their

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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