Research Projects

The growing demand for energy devices in consumer electronics and electric vehicles has led to the development of high energy density green energy storage technologies, such as rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIB). ZIB technology is promising due to its high abundance, low redox potential, and theoretical specific capacity (820 mAh g?1). However, ZIB faces challenges such as dendritic growth, passivation, corrosion, and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), which can lead to battery failure, poor Coulombic efficiency, low depth of discharge, capacity fading, and inferior cycle life. To address these issues, the anode can be improved by maintaining uniform Zn plating/stripping, preventing water-induced corrosion by increasing HER overpotential, and controlling anode passivation. This proposal aims to engineer the zinc anode and electrolyte to improve charge storage performance. The anode engineering involves synthesizing neutral and zwitterionic polymers, copolymers, molecular assemblies, hydrogels, and zincophilic alloys using chemical and electrochemical routes. The electrochemical performance of the symmetric cell with engineered anode and electrolyte will be examined, while the nucleation mechanism and overpotential will be investigated with the asymmetric cell. The charge transfer and diffusion kinetics will be examined using impedance analysis. An integrated approach of making a full cell with engineered anode and electrolyte, and engineered cathode will be undertaken to achieve high specific capacity, near 100% Columbic efficiency, and long cycle life.