Resist-Dyed Textile Alkaline Zn Microbatteries with Significantly Suppressed Zn Dendrite Growth

Abstract

The progress of electronic textiles relies on the development of sustainable power sources without much sacrifice of convenience and comfort of fabrics. Herein, we present a rechargeable textile alkaline Zn microbattery (micro-AZB) fabricated by a process analogous to traditional resist-dyeing techniques. Conductive patterned electrodes are realized first by resist-aided electroless/electrodeposition of Ni/Cu films. The resulting coplanar micro-AZB in a single textile, with an electroplated Zn anode and a Ni0.7Co0.3OOH cathode, achieves high energy density (256.2 Wh kg–1), high power density (10.3 kW kg–1), and stable cycling performances (82.7% for 1500 cycles). The solid-state micro-AZB also shows excellent mechanical reliability (bending, twisting, tailoring, etc.). The improved reversibility and cyclability of textile Zn electrodes over conventional Zn foils are found to be due to the significantly inhibited Zn dendrite growth and suppressed undesirable side reactions. This work provides a new approach for energy-storage textile with high rechargeability, high safety, and aesthetic design versatility