The cycle performance of the neutral zinc ion battery based on a
Zn anode has been improved significantly by adding activated carbon
into the Zn anode. The capacity retentions of the batteries without and
with 12wt% activated carbon in Zn anodes are 56.7% and 85.6% after
80 cycles, respectively. The addition of activated carbon can suppress
the formation of inactive basic zinc sulfate (Zn4SO4(OH)6 · nH2O)
characterized by the XRD diffraction. Results show that due to the
presence of activated carbon, the deposition of anodic products is
preferential to occur in the pores of activated carbon rather than on
the surface of Zn particles. As a result, the electrochemical reaction
kinetics and reversibility of the zinc anode have been greatly improved
by activated carbon modification, leading to the enhancement on the
cycle performance of batteries based on Zn anodes.