IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-56519-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

All-natural charge gradient interface for sustainable seawater zinc batteries

Author

Listed:
  • Wenjie Fan

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Chunliu Zhu

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Xingjie Wang

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Huanlei Wang

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Yue Zhu

    (Ocean University of China
    The University of Texas at Austin)

  • Jingwei Chen

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Weiqian Tian

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Jingyi Wu

    (Ocean University of China)

  • Guihua Yu

    (The University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Paring seawater electrolyte with zinc metal electrode has emerged as one of the most sustainable alternative solutions for offshore stationary energy storages owing to the intrinsic safety, extremely low cost, and unlimited water source. However, it remains a substantial challenge to stabilize zinc metal negative electrode in seawater electrolyte, given the presence of chloride ions and complex cations in seawater. Here, we reveal that chloride pitting initiates negative electrode corrosion and aggravates dendritic deposition, causing rapid battery failure. We then report a charge gradient negative electrode interface design that eliminates chloride-induced corrosion and enables a sustainable zinc plating/stripping performance beyond 1300 h in natural seawater electrolyte at 1 mA cm-2/1 mAh cm-2. The gradually strengthened negative charges formed via diffusion-controlled electrostatic complexation of biomass-derived polysaccharides serve to repel the unfavorable accumulation of chloride ions while simultaneously accelerating the diffusion of zinc ions. The seawater-based Zn | |NaV3O8·7H2O cell delivers an initial areal discharge capacity of 5 mAh cm-2 and operates over 500 cycles at 500 mA g-1.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenjie Fan & Chunliu Zhu & Xingjie Wang & Huanlei Wang & Yue Zhu & Jingwei Chen & Weiqian Tian & Jingyi Wu & Guihua Yu, 2025. "All-natural charge gradient interface for sustainable seawater zinc batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56519-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56519-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56519-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-56519-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fang Wan & Linlin Zhang & Xi Dai & Xinyu Wang & Zhiqiang Niu & Jun Chen, 2018. "Aqueous rechargeable zinc/sodium vanadate batteries with enhanced performance from simultaneous insertion of dual carriers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Chongyin Yang & Jiale Xia & Chunyu Cui & Travis P. Pollard & Jenel Vatamanu & Antonio Faraone & Joseph A. Dura & Madhusudan Tyagi & Alex Kattan & Elijah Thimsen & Jijian Xu & Wentao Song & Enyuan Hu &, 2023. "All-temperature zinc batteries with high-entropy aqueous electrolyte," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 325-335, March.
    3. Sixie Zhang & Yunan Wang & Shuyu Li & Zhongfeng Wang & Haocheng Chen & Li Yi & Xu Chen & Qihao Yang & Wenwen Xu & Aiying Wang & Zhiyi Lu, 2023. "Concerning the stability of seawater electrolysis: a corrosion mechanism study of halide on Ni-based anode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Yifei Yuan & Ryan Sharpe & Kun He & Chenghang Li & Mahmoud Tamadoni Saray & Tongchao Liu & Wentao Yao & Meng Cheng & Huile Jin & Shun Wang & Khalil Amine & Reza Shahbazian-Yassar & M. Saiful Islam & J, 2022. "Understanding intercalation chemistry for sustainable aqueous zinc–manganese dioxide batteries," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(10), pages 890-898, October.
    5. Chade Lv & Lixiang Zhong & Hengjie Liu & Zhiwei Fang & Chunshuang Yan & Mengxin Chen & Yi Kong & Carmen Lee & Daobin Liu & Shuzhou Li & Jiawei Liu & Li Song & Gang Chen & Qingyu Yan & Guihua Yu, 2021. "Selective electrocatalytic synthesis of urea with nitrate and carbon dioxide," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 868-876, October.
    6. Yunxiang Zhao & Shan Guo & Manjing Chen & Bingan Lu & Xiaotan Zhang & Shuquan Liang & Jiang Zhou, 2023. "Tailoring grain boundary stability of zinc-titanium alloy for long-lasting aqueous zinc batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Qinghe Cao & Yong Gao & Jie Pu & Xin Zhao & Yuxuan Wang & Jipeng Chen & Cao Guan, 2023. "Gradient design of imprinted anode for stable Zn-ion batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Guanjie Li & Zihan Zhao & Shilin Zhang & Liang Sun & Mingnan Li & Jodie A. Yuwono & Jianfeng Mao & Junnan Hao & Jitraporn (Pimm) Vongsvivut & Lidan Xing & Chun-Xia Zhao & Zaiping Guo, 2023. "A biocompatible electrolyte enables highly reversible Zn anode for zinc ion battery," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quanquan Guo & Wei Li & Xiaodong Li & Jiaxu Zhang & Davood Sabaghi & Jianjun Zhang & Bowen Zhang & Dongqi Li & Jingwei Du & Xingyuan Chu & Sein Chung & Kilwon Cho & Nguyen Ngan Nguyen & Zhongquan Liao, 2024. "Proton-selective coating enables fast-kinetics high-mass-loading cathodes for sustainable zinc batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Guojun Lai & Zequan Zhao & Hao Zhang & Xueting Hu & Bingan Lu & Shuquan Liang & Jiang Zhou, 2025. "In-situ positive electrode-electrolyte interphase construction enables stable Ah-level Zn-MnO2 batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Xin Shi & Jinhao Xie & Jin Wang & Shilei Xie & Zujin Yang & Xihong Lu, 2024. "A weakly solvating electrolyte towards practical rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Xiaoran Zhang & Xiaorong Zhu & Shuowen Bo & Chen Chen & Mengyi Qiu & Xiaoxiao Wei & Nihan He & Chao Xie & Wei Chen & Jianyun Zheng & Pinsong Chen & San Ping Jiang & Yafei Li & Qinghua Liu & Shuangyin , 2022. "Identifying and tailoring C–N coupling site for efficient urea synthesis over diatomic Fe–Ni catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Qingshun Nian & Xuan Luo & Digen Ruan & Yecheng Li & Bing-Qing Xiong & Zhuangzhuang Cui & Zihong Wang & Qi Dong & Jiajia Fan & Jinyu Jiang & Jun Ma & Zhihao Ma & Dazhuang Wang & Xiaodi Ren, 2024. "Highly reversible zinc metal anode enabled by strong Brønsted acid and hydrophobic interfacial chemistry," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Qian Wu & Chencheng Dai & Fanxu Meng & Yan Jiao & Zhichuan J. Xu, 2024. "Potential and electric double-layer effect in electrocatalytic urea synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Chang Li & Ryan Kingsbury & Arashdeep Singh Thind & Abhinandan Shyamsunder & Timothy T. Fister & Robert F. Klie & Kristin A. Persson & Linda F. Nazar, 2023. "Enabling selective zinc-ion intercalation by a eutectic electrolyte for practical anodeless zinc batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Baojiu Hao & Jinqiu Zhou & Hao Yang & Changhao Zhu & Zhenkang Wang & Jie Liu & Chenglin Yan & Tao Qian, 2024. "Concentration polarization induced phase rigidification in ultralow salt colloid chemistry to stabilize cryogenic Zn batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    9. Bharath, G. & Karthikeyan, G. & Kumar, Anuj & Prakash, J. & Venkatasubbu, Devanand & Kumar Nadda, Ashok & Kumar Gupta, Vijai & Abu Haija, Mohammad & Banat, Fawzi, 2022. "Surface engineering of Au nanostructures for plasmon-enhanced electrochemical reduction of N2 and CO2 into urea in the visible-NIR region," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    10. Mingzhuang Liu & Xinghua Li & Mengxia Cui & Feiyu Chen & Jiaxing Li & Weijian Shi & Yu Liu & Xiaowei Li & Yan Wang & Wei Zhang & Changlu Shao & Yichun Liu, 2024. "Amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide for near-barrier-free ultrafast-charging aqueous zinc-ion battery," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    11. Hongyu Lu & Jisong Hu & Xijun Wei & Kaiqi Zhang & Xiao Xiao & Jingxin Zhao & Qiang Hu & Jing Yu & Guangmin Zhou & Bingang Xu, 2023. "A recyclable biomass electrolyte towards green zinc-ion batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    12. Meijia Qiu & Peng Sun & Yuxuan Liang & Jian Chen & Zhong Lin Wang & Wenjie Mai, 2024. "Tailoring tetrahedral and pair-correlation entropies of glass-forming liquids for energy storage applications at ultralow temperatures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Yilong Zhao & Yunxuan Ding & Wenlong Li & Chang Liu & Yingzheng Li & Ziqi Zhao & Yu Shan & Fei Li & Licheng Sun & Fusheng Li, 2023. "Efficient urea electrosynthesis from carbon dioxide and nitrate via alternating Cu–W bimetallic C–N coupling sites," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Bocheng Zhang & Zechuan Dai & Yanxu Chen & Mingyu Cheng & Huaikun Zhang & Pingyi Feng & Buqi Ke & Yangyang Zhang & Genqiang Zhang, 2024. "Defect-induced triple synergistic modulation in copper for superior electrochemical ammonia production across broad nitrate concentrations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Mengqiu Xu & Fangfang Wu & Ye Zhang & Yuanhui Yao & Genping Zhu & Xiaoyu Li & Liang Chen & Gan Jia & Xiaohong Wu & Youju Huang & Peng Gao & Wei Ye, 2023. "Kinetically matched C–N coupling toward efficient urea electrosynthesis enabled on copper single-atom alloy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    16. Wenqiang Yang & Huan Liu & Xiaoxia Chang & Yunlong Zhang & Yafeng Cai & Yifan Li & Yi Cui & Bingjun Xu & Liang Yu & Xiaoju Cui & Dehui Deng, 2025. "Electrosynthesis of NH3 from NO with ampere-level current density in a pressurized electrolyzer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Kui Fan & Wenfu Xie & Jinze Li & Yining Sun & Pengcheng Xu & Yang Tang & Zhenhua Li & Mingfei Shao, 2022. "Active hydrogen boosts electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Bin Ouyang & Yan Zeng, 2024. "The rise of high-entropy battery materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-5, December.
    19. Jiace Hao & Tongde Wang & Ruohan Yu & Jian Cai & Guohua Gao & Zechao Zhuang & Qi Kang & Shuanglong Lu & Zhenhui Liu & Jinsong Wu & Guangming Wu & Mingliang Du & Dingsheng Wang & Han Zhu, 2024. "Integrating few-atom layer metal on high-entropy alloys to catalyze nitrate reduction in tandem," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Yang Li & Shisheng Zheng & Hao Liu & Qi Xiong & Haocong Yi & Haibin Yang & Zongwei Mei & Qinghe Zhao & Zu-Wei Yin & Ming Huang & Yuan Lin & Weihong Lai & Shi-Xue Dou & Feng Pan & Shunning Li, 2024. "Sequential co-reduction of nitrate and carbon dioxide enables selective urea electrosynthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56519-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.