The contrasting impacts of polyethylene glycol on electrochemical behaviors of Fe and Zn metal anodes in aqueous batteries
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is considered an electrolyte additive to improve the performance of aqueous batteries. Here, we report that PEG enhances the Coulombic efficiency (CE) of an Fe metal anode (FeMA) in aqueous FeCl<sub>2</sub> electrolytes but surprisingly lowers the CE of Zn metal anode (ZMA) in concentrated ZnCl<sub>2</sub> electrolytes. We observed that the PEG addition raises the corrosion potential of FeMA but decreases that for ZMA. The femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) and synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) results reveal that PEG solvates Fe<sup>2+</sup> rather than Zn<sup>2+</sup> in the chloride-rich environments.
Authors
- Yiming Sui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3517-1662)
- Min Soo Jung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9288-1866)
- Xingyi Lyu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5781-2486)
- Xiulei Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4649-9594)
- Sönke Seifert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4598-2354)
- Chong Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8879-1825)
- Alexis M. Scida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6427-6434)
- Sungjin Yang
- Kyriakos C. Stylianou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1670-0020)
- Emmanuel Nyela Musa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7434-3732)
- Cheng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0561-5226)
- Tao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4913-4486)
- Hunter Maclennan
- Riitvek Baddireddi
- Maxine A. McNerney
Institutions
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chemical Communications
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cc01196e
- Primary Topic
- Advanced battery technologies research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Division of Materials Research
- Division of Chemistry