• Montanelli, Vittorio
• Magagnin, Luca
• Bussetti, Gianlorenzo
• Gibertini, Eugenio

Abstract

<jats:p>Additive manufacturing techniques are coming to the fore in many technological fields as cheaper and more versatile manufacturing routes alternative to the physical deposition methods. In particular, when miniaturized, thin-film or patterned structures are needed, Inkjet printing (IJP) has been widely demonstrated as suitable techniques to fabricate coated electrodes and microdevices for many applications including energy storage <jats:sup>1</jats:sup>. In this regard, Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are a promising alternative to the traditional lithium-ion batteries due to the abundance and low cost of zinc. In ZIBs, a metallic Zn chips is usually employed as the anode and a variety of materials, such as metal oxides or polymers, as the cathode. Zinc-ion batteries have the potential for high energy density and long cycle life, however they suffer of the well-known issue of Zn dendritic growth and poor efficiency of the plating-dissolution process <jats:sup>2</jats:sup>. Ti<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>C<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> MXene have been recently demonstrated as a high-performance “zincophilic” substrate for smooth and efficient zinc with high reversibility <jats:sup>3,4</jats:sup>.</jats:p><jats:p>In this work, we investigate inkjet-printed Ti<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>C<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> MXene thin coatings as an ideal substrate for anode-free ZIBs. Stable aqueous Ti<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>C<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> MXene inks were formulated and successfully inkjet printed on different substrates. The zinc metal nucleation phenomena on MXene 2D sheets were investigated by electrochemical potentiodynamic polarization techniques as well as galvanostatic ones, comparing them to a zinc metallic foil. Ex-situ electron scanning microscopy (SEM) analyses were employed to observe the plated Zn morphology after cycling at both low and high current density. Taking advantage of the smooth inkjet-printed Ti<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>C<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> MXene coatings, electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM) was used for the first time to perform in-operando investigation of the Zn plating process, allowing to reveal the early stage Zn plating mechanism on the as-printed</jats:p><jats:p><jats:italic>Bibliography</jats:italic><jats:list list-type="roman-lower"><jats:list-item><jats:p>C. Li, F. Bu, Q. Wang, and X. Liu, <jats:italic>Advanced Materials Interfaces</jats:italic>, <jats:bold>9</jats:bold>, 2201051 (2022).</jats:p></jats:list-item><jats:list-item><jats:p>K. Wang, <jats:italic>ACS Omega</jats:italic>, <jats:bold>5</jats:bold>, 10225–10227 (2020).</jats:p></jats:list-item><jats:list-item><jats:p>J. M. Park et al., <jats:italic>Journal of Energy Chemistry</jats:italic>, <jats:bold>76</jats:bold>, 187–194 (2023).</jats:p></jats:list-item><jats:list-item><jats:p>Z. Gong et al., <jats:italic>Journal of Colloid and Interface Science</jats:italic>, <jats:bold>625</jats:bold>, 700–710 (2022).</jats:p></jats:list-item></jats:list></jats:p>

Topics

• Deposition
• density
• impedance spectroscopy
• morphology
• polymer
• energy density
• scanning electron microscopy
• atomic force microscopy
• zinc
• Lithium
• current density
• additive manufacturing