Pristine UiO-67 nanoparticles for zinc dendrite inhibition

One of the main reasons that limit the application of aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) is the growth of zinc dendrites. In this paper, three different sizes of UiO-67 were synthesized, named B-10, B-15 and B-20, by hydrothermal method and their different performances in ZIBs were compared. Among them, B-10 has the smallest size, larger porosity, as well as a high content of Zr–OH/H₂O groups which are excellent zincophilic sites. It is also noteworthy that zinc symmetric batteries composed of zinc foils coated with B-10 have excellent zinc plating/stripping performance at different current densities, with minimal overpotential and up to 700 h of cycling stability at a current density of 0.5 mA·cm⁻². B-10 also has the lowest resistance and highest ionic conductivity compared to B-15 and B-20, and has the best ability to inhibit zinc dendrite growth.