Stable Zn-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitor Zinc Anode Achieved by Artificial Protective Layer of Nitrogen-Sulfur Co-Doping Activated Carbon

Zinc metal anodes are one of the promising aqueous anodes due to their low redox potential and high capacity. However, the growth of dendrites severely destabilizes the electrode/electrolyte interface and accelerates the generation of side reactions that ultimately degrade the electrochemical performance. Here, we used a simple and effective interface engineering strategy to construct nitrogen and sulfur double-doped orange peel-based biomass activated carbon (NS-OPC) artificial protective layer on zinc foil. Among them, nitrogen-containing functional groups and S heteroatoms can regulate the transport and deposition of Zn2+, and the hierarchical porous structure of activated carbon not only provides a large number of active sites for Zn2+, but also provides enough space for the growth of Zn2+ dendrites. The symmetric cell with NS-OPC artificial protective layer showed excellent cycle stability (1200 h) at the current density of 1 mA cm(-2). Finally, the YP50||NS-OPC/Zn full cell was constructed to validate the performance of the NS-OPC/Zn. The capacity retention rate was 92.6% after 3000 cycles at 10 A g(-1).This work provides a feasible strategy for accelerating the industrial application of aqueous zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors.