Modification of Cu-Based Current Collectors and Their Application in High-Performance Zn Metal Anode: A Review.

Zinc-based batteries (ZBBs) have proven to be tremendously plausible for large-scale electrochemical energy storage applications due to their merits of desirable safety, low-cost, and low environmental impact. Nevertheless, the zinc metal anodes in ZBBs still suffer from many issues, including dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution reactions (HERs), corrosion, passivation, and other types of undesirable side reactions, which severely hinder practical application. The modification of Cu-based current collectors (CCs) has proven to be an efficient method to regulate zinc deposition and prevent dendritic growth, thereby improving the Coulombic efficiency (CE) and lifespan of batteries (e.g., up to 99.977% of CE over 6900 cycles after modification), which is an emerging research topic in recent years. In this review, we provide a systematic overview of the modification of copper-based CCs and their application in zinc metal anodes. The relationships between their modification strategies, nano-micro-structures, and electrochemical performance are systematically reviewed. Ultimately, their promising prospects for future development are also proposed. We hope that this review could contribute to the design of copper-based CCs for zinc-based batteries and facilitate their practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]