A Sustainable Dual Cross‑Linked Cellulose Hydrogel Electrolyte for High‑Performance Zinc‑Metal BatteriesOACSTPCDEI

Aqueous rechargeable Zn-metal batteries(ARZBs)are considered one of the most promising candidates for grid-scale energy storage.However,their widespread commercial application is largely plagued by three major challenges:The uncontrollable Zn dendrites,notorious parasitic side reactions,and sluggish Zn^(2+) ion transfer.To address these issues,we design a sustainable dual crosslinked cellulose hydrogel electrolyte,which has excellent mechanical strength to inhibit dendrite formation,high Zn^(2+) ions binding capacity to suppress side reaction,and abundant porous structure to facilitate Zn^(2+) ions migration.Consequently,the ZnZn cell with the hydrogel electrolyte can cycle stably for more than 400 h under a high current density of 10 mA cm^(−2).Moreover,the hydrogel electrolyte also enables the Znpolyaniline cell to achieve high-rate and long-term cycling performance(>2000 cycles at 2000 mA g^(−1)).Remarkably,the hydrogel electrolyte is easily accessible and biodegradable,making the ARZBs attractive in terms of scalability and sustainability.