Document Type

Article

Abstract

Polymer electrolytes have been explored as an alternative to conventional aqueous electrolytes in zinc-ion batteries, particularly for flexible and wearable applications. Despite the increasing interest in polymer electrolyte-based zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), their development is still in its early stages due to various challenges. In this study, we investigated three promising polymer electrolytes: CSAM (carboxyl methyl chitosan with acrylamide monomer), PAM (polyacrylamide monomer hydrogel electrolyte), and p-PBI (phosphate-doped polybenzimidazole solid electrolyte) with Zn(ClO4)2 and Zn(OTf)2, as electrolytes for zinc-ion batteries. The p-PBI solid electrolyte showed high mechanical stability and improved resistance to short-circuiting during cycling. The presence of carboxyl groups in CSAM and the existence of O-H bonding facilitated ion movement, resulting in enhanced ionic conductivity and preventing dendrite formation. Incorporating these hydrogels with high-performance zinc salts, such as zinc triflate (Zn(OTf)2), resulted in stable symmetric cell cycling over 4000 h with a uniform voltage profile under 1 mA/cm2 and a low overpotential of around 53 mV cycling with CSAM. Rate-dependent full-cell testing showed that the PBI solid electrolyte delivers higher capacity retention at different current densities, whereas CSAM exhibits markedly better long-term stability, even at low voltages, owing to its effective dendrite suppression, which helps preserve cathode performance over extended cycling.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries12030093

Rights

© 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

APA Citation

Rajabi, R., Sun, S., Wu, B., Khan, J., & Huang, K. (2026). Towards Sustainable Energy Storage: Evaluating the Performance of Three Polymer Electrolytes for Zinc-Ion Batteries. Batteries, 12(3), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries12030093

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