Gravitational Effects of Electrodeposition on Zinc Anodes

Zinc is abundant, safe to handle, non-toxic, and has a high theoretical capacity of 820mAh/g. These benefits cause zinc metal to be a promising anode material and alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Zinc’s prolific dendritic growth is the main challenge that prevents the widespread and commercial use of zinc as an anode material. Dendrite growth increases the surface area which can cause the anode to corrode faster. In addition to the increased surface area, the dendrites can connect the working and counter electrodes, causing the battery to short and fail. Zn||Zn parallel visualization cells were set up to further understand the dendritic growth of zinc anodes. Three visualization cell setups were tested with a 2M ZnSO4 electrolyte and were used to explore the growth behavior of the dendrites. After constant current charge or discharge, the anodes were examined under an optical microscope to analyze the dendrites’ morphology. The optical microscope images demonstrated that dendritic growth on zinc anodes is influenced both electrochemically and structurally by gravity. Zinc deposition with ions moving against the gravitational field showed more even surface coverage, a more compact structure, and a more stable plating and voltage potentials.