High performance gel electrolytes for zinc ion batteries

Abstract In recent years, Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have garnered considerable interest as a promising new form of energy storage technology that is anticipated to supplant lithium-ion batteries. However, problems such as electrolytes leakage and dendrite growth in ZIBs have hindered their further development in energy storage systems, and gel electrolytes are considered to be the most promising alternative to solve this set of problems. In this paper, we successfully prepared a porous gel electrolyte of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) crosslinked with polyethylene glycol (PEG), which has an ionic conductivity of up to 22.38 mS cm −1 and excellent mechanical properties, and finally shows excellent multiplicity performance and long-cycling performance in ZIBs as well. This study provides useful insights for the development of high-performance gel electrolytes.