Electrolyte Engineering for Durable, Cheap and Safe Zn-based Technologies

Leandro Nicolás Bengoa Abraham^a, Rosa María González-Gil^a, Andrea Inclan Acevedo^a, Adrian Crespo Villanueva^b, Daniel Rueda-García^c, Pedro Gómez-Romero^a

^aCatalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, UAB Campus, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

^bInstitut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

^cWattium

Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2026 Conference (MATSUSSpring26)

F1 Safe Materials for Advanced Battery Systems

Barcelona, Spain, 2026 March 23rd - 27th

Organizers: Jingwen Weng and Leiting Zhang

Oral, Leandro Nicolás Bengoa Abraham, presentation 507
Publication date: 15th December 2025

Zn-based energy storage systems (Zinc-ion Batteries (ZIBs) and capacitors (ZIC) and Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries (RZABs)) have emerged as promising alternative for large-scale and stationary applications. Thus, a huge number of investigations have been lately dealt with this technology, trying to tackle the main drawbacks of these technologies[1,2]. Among these, the intrinsic thermodynamic instability of the Zn metal anode in aqueous solutions is a key problem that needs urgent resolution. This fundamental flaw drives critical parasitic side reactions, which together with dendritic growth, severely degrade battery performance limiting cyclability and shelf life. This has made evident the need to engineer electrolytes that can mitigate the Zn anode issues while allowing cathode materials to perform at the required level. While both chemistries face similar problems on the anode, the approach taken for each is quite different. While for ZIBs the composition of the electrolyte has been tuned and modified from dilute ZnSO₄ all the way to water-in-salt formulations[3], the study of organic additives in 6 M KOH has been the dominant strategy in RZABs. A relatively recent trend has focused on the use of near-neutral electrolytes to minimize Zn dissolution and improve stability[4,5]. In this work, the diverse concepts that have been developed in our group for Zn-based technologies are presented. From the use of additives with different functionalities to the implementation of an aqueous-organic water-in-salt electrolytes for Zn-ion capacitors, our results expose the complexity and interaction of many parameters in these systems. Moreover, our attempts to develop a near-neutral Zn(OAc)₂ electrolyte for RZABs will be described, including the use of in-situ Raman to understand the effect of additives on Zn electrochemistry. Overall, this study will point out the delicate link between electrolyte, anode stability and cathode performance, as well as the need to develop cost efficient electrolyte to bring Zn energy storage devices to the next level.

References:

[1] X. Gao, H. Dong, C.J. Carmalt, G. He, Recent Advances of Aqueous Electrolytes for Zinc-Ion Batteries to Mitigate Side Reactions: A Review, ChemElectroChem (2023)

[2] L. Miao, Z. Guo, L. Jiao, Insights into the design of mildly acidic aqueous electrolytes for improved stability of Zn anode performance in zinc-ion batteries, (2023).

[3] B. Wang, H. Xu, J. Hao, J. Du, C. Wu, Z. Ma, W. Qin, Mini-Review on the Regulation of Electrolyte Solvation Structure for Aqueous Zinc Ion Batteries, Batteries 9 (2023).

[4] F.A. Getie, D.W. Ayele, N.G. Habtu, F.A. Yihun, T.A. Yemata, Development of electrolytes for rechargeable zinc-air batteries: current progress, challenges, and future outlooks, SN Appl Sci 4 (2022).

[5] Y. Hou, H. Hong, Y. Zhao, X. Yang, D. Li, C. Zhi, Progress and Prospects in Rechargeable Zinc–Air Batteries with an Emphasis on Alkaline to Near-Neutral Electrolytes, Adv Energy Mater (2025)

Acknowledgements:

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Ministerio de Ciencia y Innovacion (MCIIN), the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (grants PID2024-157199OB-C21) and the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence programme, Grant CEX2021–001214-S, for this research activities.

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