{"id":47749,"date":"2024-12-10T15:24:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T20:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/?post_type=news&p=47749"},"modified":"2024-12-10T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T20:24:22","slug":"polymer-protectors","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/materials\/news\/polymer-protectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Polymer Protectors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Cornell University have discovered that coating zinc-ion batteries\u2019 electrodes with a special polymer extends their life by preventing damage during rapid charging\u2014a crucial advance for these promising energy-storage devices used in everyday electronics and power grids. The team\u2019s results appear in <\/span>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen these batteries charge too quickly, zinc metal filaments grow inside of them from anode to cathode. When these filaments reach the other electrode, they short-circuit the battery, preventing the battery from charging and rendering it useless,\u201d said team member <\/span>Regina Garc\u00eda-M\u00e9ndez<\/span><\/a>, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering and core faculty member of its <\/span>Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI)<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When conventional zinc-ion batteries are rapidly charged, the ions inside them travel quickly between the anode and cathode\u2014the negative and positive electrodes of the battery\u2014resulting in the formation of slivers of zinc that extend between the electrodes and interfere with the batteries\u2019 performance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe metallic strands destroy the inside of the battery and disrupt its ability to hold electricity,\u201d says Garc\u00eda-M\u00e9ndez. \u201cTo solve this, we found that adding a small concentration of the polymer to the battery forms a thin protective layer on the electrode\u2019s surface, extending battery life and enabling fast charging rates.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team set out to determine whether a specific polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), <\/span>could prevent the zinc ions from forming zinc metal filaments. <\/span>To test their hypothesis, they experimented with different amounts and sizes of polymer molecules. They checked their results in two types of batteries: small coin-shaped ones and larger pouch-shaped ones, both using water-based electrolytes. To make the electrolyte, they dissolved zinc salt in purified water and then mixed in a polymer called PEG. Using advanced tools like scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to look at the surface details of the zinc electrodes and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to study their chemistry at the surface,<\/span> they found that the polymer performed two functions at once within the battery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPEG covered the electrodes with a thin layer which allowed us to prevent a damaging reaction on the anode side of the separator, and the zinc ion rearranged into a uniform structure that prevented filaments from forming,\u201d says Garc\u00eda-M\u00e9ndez. \u201cThe polymer protects the battery while simultaneously preventing the metal strands from forming \u2013 allowing these batteries to charge faster without fizzling out.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team will test this method with larger batteries, aiming to achieve the same results.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to apply the polymer to a larger format with the same conditions and see if it translates. We need to see if this method works when we scale up the materials so that we can apply PEG in everyday zinc-ion batteries,\u201d Garc\u00eda-M\u00e9ndez says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This study was completed with researchers from Cornell University: Arpita Sharma, Shuo Jin, Donald L. Koch, and Lynden A. Archer of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Shifeng Hong and Yue Deng of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and Ankush Mukherjee of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The project was supported by the <\/span>Department of Energy Basic Sciences Energy Program<\/span><\/a> and by the <\/span>Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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