A zinc-conducting chalcogenide electrolyte

A solid-state zinc-ion battery can fundamentally eliminate dendrite formation and hydrogen evolution on the zinc anode from aqueous systems. However, enabling fast zinc ion (+) conduction in solid crystals is thought to be impossible. Here, we demonstrated a fluorine-doping approach to achieving fast Zn(2+) transport in mesoporous Zn(y)S(1−x)F(x). The substitutional doping of fluoride ion with sulfide substantially reduces Zn(2+) migration barrier in a crystalline phase, while mesopore channels with bounded dimethylformamide enable nondestructive Zn(2+) conduction along inner pore surface. This mesoporous conductor features a high room-temperature Zn(2+) conductivity (0.66 millisiemens per centimeter, compared with 0.01 to 1 millisiemens per centimeter for lithium solid-state electrolyte) with a superior cycling performance (89.5% capacity retention over 5000 cycles) in a solid zinc-ion battery and energy density (0.04 watt-hour per cubic centimeter) in a solid zinc-ion capacitor. The universality of this crystal engineering approach was also verified in other mesoporous zinc chalcogenide materials, which implies various types of potential Zn(2+)-conducting solid electrolytes.